Companies operating in the wind sector have been urged to publicly share data on fire incidents to enable the industry to better identify and address emerging issues as turbines grow in size.
Firetrace, a supplier of fire suppression systems, said the lack of transparency is leaving the industry “open to attack” by opponents, allowing one-off incidents to be portrayed as “just the tip of the iceberg”.
In a new report, the company said the question of how often to wind turbines catch fire should be an easy one to answer, “but there is little rigorous data that insurers or manufacturers share publicly. The numbers we can see vary wildly.”
It noted estimates of 1 in 2,000 and 1 in 10,000 per year from articles in industry publications and said one expert it had spoken to had put the figure at 1 in 15,000 for a catastrophic fire.
“If one in 2,000 turbines catches fire each year, that suggests that a typical wind farm with 150 turbines would experience one or two fires during 20 years of operation. But the lack of figures that the industry can agree on causes challenges for the industry.”
Firetrace said a reliance on old data from the mid-2010s means “companies are unable to spot recent fire trends and address them”. Furthermore: “By failing to be transparent, the wind industry is leaving the way clear for opponents of the industry to set the agenda for discussion of wind’s safety record, and stifles good stories about the progress being made.”
It continued: “This is strange because experts in the safety industry believe that manufacturers and operators are taking fire risk seriously, and see progress is being made. This is both with active fire suppression systems and passive design improvements.”
Whilst adding that there is “no room for complacency”, Firespace said the “good news” is that, even using the most pessimistic estimates, the threat to life is thankfully “very low” given how unlikely it is someone will be working on the turbines when a fire occurs.
The firm said replacing a turbine following a catastrophic fire is likely to cost “three or four times” the price tag for installation, meaning “the bigger threat is financial”. It noted that as turbines grow in size so will the impact of individual incidents.
Firetrace global sales director for wind, Angela Krcmar, said: “The wind industry has made great strides toward safer operations over the past decade – it’s clear from our interviews with industry experts for the report that finding ways to minimise fire risk is a key concern.
“However, without industry collaboration to collate up-to-date and accessible fire incident data, it’s impossible for best practice to evolve in line with the new scale and design of turbines that have since come to market.”
She continued: “As wind power starts to play a more prominent role in supplying global energy, the level of scrutiny from regulators will increase. We cannot allow detractors to set the narrative based on limited data.
“Transparency around not only fire data, but the steps taken to mitigate and protect against incidents, can help demonstrate to stakeholders and regulators the wind industry’s commitment to safer operations.”