Nordex Crypto Theft, Goldwind Turbine Asbestos

Allen covers positive developments like EDF’s 261 MW Serra das Almas wind farm in Brazil, Ørsted’s offshore progress in the US, and Shell’s hydrogen deal in Germany. Then the troubling stories: a Nordex technical manager caught mining cryptocurrency inside turbines, and the discovery of asbestos in Goldwind turbine brake pads across multiple Australian wind farms.

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The wind industry is having quite a week. Some stories are blowing in the right direction. Others… well… you’ll see.

Let’s start with the good news.

In Brazil… EDF power solutions just powered up the Serra das Almas wind farm. Two hundred sixty-one megawatts. Fifty-eight Danish Vestas turbines spinning in Bahia state. Six hundred thousand homes… now running on wind.

Up in the United States… Ørsted is making waves with two offshore wind projects. Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind. Cable installation is underway. Offshore substations are being commissioned. By next year… more than sixteen hundred megawatts will be flowing into Connecticut… Rhode Island… and New York.

Over in Germany… Shell is turning wind into hydrogen. They’ve signed a five-year power deal with Nordsee One. Starting in two thousand twenty-seven… offshore wind will feed a one hundred megawatt electrolyzer. Clean electricity making clean fuel. To power everything from trucks to chemical plants.

But now… the other stories.

In the Netherlands… a technical manager at Nordex wind farms thought he’d found the perfect side hustle. He had the keys. He had the access. He had giant wind turbines spinning out free electricity twenty-four hours a day.

And he had a plan.

Between August and November of two thousand twenty-two… the man installed three cryptocurrency mining rigs at the Gieterveen wind farm. He plugged them straight into a Nordex router. Inside a substation.

Then he drove to Waardpolder. Another wind farm. He climbed inside the turbines. And he hid two Helium network nodes. Connected them to Nordex’s internal network.

Month after month… while the turbines spun… his crypto wallet grew.

Nobody noticed. Why would they? He was the technical manager. He belonged there.

But then… Nordex got hit with something much worse. A ransomware attack. The Conti cybercrime crew. The company was scrambling. Investigating their networks. Looking for breaches.

That’s when they found his mining rigs.

The courts heard the case earlier this month. The prosecutor was not amused. This wasn’t just theft. This was a man who’d been trusted with critical infrastructure. Giant turbines. Automated systems. Industrial networks.

The prosecutor wanted two hundred forty hours of community service.

But the judges saw something else. A first-time offender. A man suffering from depression and burnout. Someone who admitted everything.

They cut the sentence in half. One hundred twenty hours.

Plus four thousand one hundred fifty-five euros in damages. About forty-four hundred dollars.

And if he doesn’t pay? Fifty-one days in custody.

If he doesn’t complete his community service? Sixty days in jail.

The court made one thing crystal clear. He’d shown no concern for the potential disruption to the turbines. No concern for the company’s trust. No concern… that he was running a side business… inside critical infrastructure.

But here’s the story that’s really stopped the industry cold.

In Tasmania… at the Cattle Hill wind farm… inspectors made a disturbing discovery. Asbestos. In the brake pads. Inside the turbine tower lifts.

Now… Tasmania is just the beginning.

The turbines were built by Goldwind… And Goldwind supplies turbines to wind farms all across Australia. New South Wales. Victoria. Queensland.

WorkSafe Victoria and SafeWork NSW confirmed Friday… asbestos has been found at multiple wind farm sites. White Rock. Gullen Range. Biala. Clarke Creek. Moorabool. Stockyard Hill.

The brake pads were imported into Australia. Importing asbestos has been illegal there… since two thousand three.

Beijing Energy International says the risk is extremely low. Access to affected turbines is restricted. They’re working with regulators. Testing is underway.

But here’s what everyone’s thinking…

Last week… asbestos was found in colored sand products from China. Schools shut down. Childcare centers closed. In the Australian Capital Territory. Queensland. South Australia.

Now it’s wind turbines.

So the wind industry had quite a week.

Clean power spinning up in Brazil.

Offshore cables going down in America.

Hydrogen flowing in Germany.

Cryptocurrency crimes in the Netherlands.

And asbestos… hiding inside turbines… from China.

And that’s the wind industry news for the 24^th of November 2025.

Join us tomorrow for the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast.