On Tuesday, as a routine precaution, Statkraft decided to close access to Smøla wind farm (150 MW) to the general public until further notice. A crack was discovered in the tower of a wind turbine in the oldest part of the wind farm. The damage was serious enough to warrant repairs to the tower. Statkraft is now mapping the extent and cause of the damage.

The damage was discovered in a wind turbine from construction stage 1, consisting of 20 wind turbines. These wind turbines were immediately taken out of production for inspection. The individual wind turbines will return to operation continuously once inspections have established that the towers are without damage. Five turbines have been inspected today, found to be without damage and have resumed operation. Statkraft is still inspecting the other turbines.

The other 48 wind turbines from construction stage 2 are operating as normal. Construction stage 1 was completed in September 2002, while construction stage 2 came online in 2005.

For more information, please contact:
Torbjørn Steen, VP Communications, Wind Power & Technologies, Statkraft AS 
tel.: +47 24 06 72 28 / +47 911 66 888