Man killed after being crushed by wind turbine at Golden Plains Wind Farm in Rokewood, Victoria
Vestas, the Danish company delivering TagEnergy’s Golden Plains Wind Farm, has confirmed a man died while preparing the instrument for installation on Monday morning.
The company responsible for installing turbines at the Golden Plains Wind Farm has confirmed that a subcontractor was killed while working on blade being prepared for installation.
The worker, who is yet to be formally identified, was crushed by a single turbine blade at Australia’s biggest wind project in western Victoria, just a month after farmers reported broken pieces flying on to nearby properties.
Police say the man was crushed beneath the blade at the site in Rokewood about 8am on Monday.
Emergency services rushed to the scene on Bells Road but he was declared dead at the scene.
Vestas, the Danish company delivering the engineering, procurement and construction of TagEnergy’s Golden Plains Wind Farm Stage One, has confirmed the death.
Danny Nielsen, country head for Vestas Australia and New Zealand, said Vestas was devastated for the worker’s family and the entire team building the wind farm and would do everything it could to support them.
“With workplace safety as our number one priority, the site has been closed and we are working closely with the authorities, including the police and WorkSafe Victoria, to investigate what happened and work with the project partners to take steps to prevent it recurring in the future,” Mr Nielsen said.
Footage from 7News shows three turbines at the site, with one blade dislodged and lying on the ground near a crumpled ladder. Multiple emergency vehicles, including police, paramedics, and SES volunteers, are present, and a large area has been cordoned off with police tape.
Construction of the Golden Plains Wind farm began in 2023, with some 122 wind turbines set to be installed during the first stage. An expansion will see another 93 turbines installed. Each turbine is expected to be up to 230m high.
Typically, turbines are installed once the tower is fixed onto foundations. The rotator – which produces the electricity – is up to 165m in diameter.
Once all work is completed, the Golden Plains wind farm will effectively prevent more than 4.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere annually – equivalent to 3 per cent of Victoria’s total greenhouse emissions.
TagEnergy has signed two agreements to sell electricity to data centre giant Equinix and Snowy Hydro.
The Golden Plains deal is Equinix’s first long-term power purchase agreement in the Asia-Pacific region. It becomes operational on January 1, 2029. The company’s website said it would become Australia’s largest wind farm.
The fatal incident comes just a month after the Victorian government celebrated the launch of the project and the Herald Sun reported serrated turbine blade edges were detaching and landing on nearby properties.
The Australian Workers’ Union said it was extremely frustrated and angry about the man’s death.
State secretary Ronnie Hayden said there had been mounting safety concerns at the project.
“This devastating loss could have been prevented,” he said. “This is yet another worker killed on a Victorian worksite that demands answers,” Mr Hayden said.
“Just two weeks ago, union delegates from three different unions met with Vestas management to raise serious safety concerns, telling them it was only dumb luck that nobody had been killed on site yet.”
The statement said the AWU “has consistently raised alarms about the mounting pressure on workers due to significant project delays”.
“Of particular concern has been Vestas’ decision to engage non-unionised contractors for some of the most dangerous work on site, a practice that has contributed to both safety risks and project timeline issues.
“Our delegates and organisers have found a concerning pattern of inadequate supervision across the worksite.”
Victorian Liberal MP David Davis said he visited the region last week and was alerted to previous failures with respect to safety and oversight by Worksafe at these sites following earlier incidents.
“There are real questions to be answered by both the consortium responsible for the Golden Plains Windfarm and the construction group involved,” Ms Davis told The Australian.
Mr Davis called for a full and open state-wide inquiry into what went wrong, claiming warnings were ignored.
“Recent incidents have raised questions about safety of workers and the neighbouring community. This includes recent debris fragmenting off large turbines.”
“Worksafe has been involved heavily in this project effectively basing officers on site and the question is what went wrong, very wrong? This should have been prevented,” Mr Davis said.
TagEnergy managing partner Andrew Briggs said in October there was potential for sharp plastic pieces to occasionally dislodge.
It’s understood the turbine was under construction, with the top section installed over the weekend and blades scheduled to be attached in the following days. Wind turbine blades can weigh up to 22 tonnes.
The wind farm has been closed while investigations into the accident continue.
WorkSafe Victoria will investigate the incident.
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