Offshore wind turbine catches fire off east coast of Britain

The turbine is part of the Scroby Sands Offshore Wind Farm, which has a capacity of 60 megawatts.

Situated on a sandbank off the town of Great Yarmouth in England, the facility has 30 turbines and was commissioned in 2004. It is owned and operated by RWE Offshore Wind.

In a statement sent to CNBC Tuesday, a Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesperson said: “HM Coastguard has been monitoring a wind turbine on fire at the Scroby Sands Wind Farm today … off the coast of Great Yarmouth.”

“The alarm was raised at about 10.50am and all personnel working at the site have been evacuated by the operating company and are accounted for,” the spokesperson added.

The turbine at Scroby Sands is no longer alight, and there was no requirement for search and rescue units to be deployed. It is not unheard of for wind turbines to catch fire, and a number of similar incidents have been reported in the past few years.

The U.K. is a major player in offshore wind, and home to a number of large-scale projects including the fully operational Hornsea 2 and the under construction Dogger Bank Wind Farm.

According to researchers at Imperial College London, wind turbines provided 32.4% of Britain’s electricity in the first three months of the year.

CNBC contacted RWE on Tuesday afternoon but had not received a response ahead of this story’s publication. The BBC’s report on the fire contained a statement from an RWE spokesperson, which said: “An incident occurred which led to a fire in the turbine nacelle — the enclosure at the top of the tower which houses the generating components.”

“Emergency services were contacted immediately and the Coastguard made aware. They are monitoring the area and advising on a potential 500 metre restriction zone being enforced around the affected turbine.”

“We would ask people to keep away from the area as assessments are ongoing.”