Insurer has report ready on Sonajalgs' collapsed wind turbine

TALLINN – The Estonian Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA) is currently familiarizing itself with a report, prepared by the insurer, about the collapse in mid-January of a wind power turbine belonging to businessmen Andes and Oleg Sonajalg near the village of Salme on Saaremaa island.

Priit Pallu, head of the construction and railways department at the TTJA, told BNS that the TTJA has been working with the turbine's insurer following the breakage.

"In the middle of this month, the insurance company completed a report on the investigation of the incident. The TTJA is now familiarizing itself with the findings," Pallu told BNS.

The official added that the TTJA has not laid down a timetable or deadlines for itself to release any of the information without involving the owner.

A 60-meter wind turbine broke in half at the Salme wind farm on the late evening of Jan. 15 this year. Andres Sonajalg, one of the owners of the wind farm, has attributed the incident to a rapid gust of wind, which shattered the bolts connecting different sections of the structure.

The annual capacity of the collapsed wind turbine was 1.3 million kilowatt-hours, which means an annual income of 120,000-130,000 euros at current electricity prices. The wind farm was established in 2003, and the wind turbine that collapsed was erected in 2005. In total, the wind farm has seven wind turbines, six of them smaller and one large.