Major Outage

On 24 April 2023, a general cargo ship, Petra L, collided with a wind turbine at Ørsted’s Gode Wind 1 offshore wind farm in the German North Sea. The Antigua‑flagged vessel, en route from Szczecin to Emden with 1,500 tonnes of grain, suffered a large 5×3 metre hole in its starboard hull and water ingress but was able to reach port. Ørsted confirmed that one turbine at the 330 MW Gode Wind 1 farm was struck; no injuries were reported. The affected turbine was taken out of operation for further investigation, and local water police and other authorities launched an inquiry into the incident and potential safety protocol breaches. The event caused a significant unplanned outage of the impacted turbine while inspections and investigations proceeded.