North American Clean Energy: The Economic and Environmental Cost of Wind Energy

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP PIECE: Hamed Noori

Wind has been a source of energy for centuries, supplying reliable and continuous power generation. Over the years, humans have used wind energy to power ships, mill grain and generate electricity. The widespread use of wind energy began to decrease in North America with the rapid development of industrial power. In recent years, there has been increasing pressure to convert back to more renewable forms of energy. This is not only due to the physical limitations of oil and natural gas, but as a way to try and lessen the impacts of climate change. Wind now constitutes about 10 per cent of total energy production in the United States. However, as we turn to renewable energy solutions to mitigate the world’s dependency on fossil fuels and the negative impact on the environment, we are presented with a whole new set of risks, specifically attributed to wind energy.

Wind Turbine Fires

As wind energy technologies continue to expand in several countries, the number of wind turbine incidents is also increasing. Fires are the second leading accident for all reported wind turbine incidents. The risk of fire within the nacelle of the wind turbine is very high, as it tightly packs together all the elements of the fire triangle: fuel, oxygen and ignition. Very flammable materials like oil, polymers, and fibreglass are located within the nacelle, where electrical malfunctions and other potential ignitions tend to take place. As well, wind turbines are placed intentionally in windy locations for efficient power generation, so fires ignited within the nacelle are continuously fanned and cause more dangerous and intense fires. Typically, what happens is that there is a form of ignition (from electrical faults, mechanical failure, lightning strikes, or maintenance activities), which, when coupled with the ample oxygen supply, creates an environment where fire can escalate rapidly and flames quickly engulf the flammable material within the nacelle. 

What further heightens the risks of these fires is how inaccessible they are. Not only are wind turbines typically in more remote locations, but the nacelle is located so high off the ground that it becomes impractical for firefighters to try and extinguish the fire. Other significant damages can come from wind turbine fires, such as rapidly spreading wildfires started by flaming debris . 

Financial and Environmental Impact

These turbine fires have a considerable cost, not only the physical loss of infrastructure but also the loss of income from ceased power production. The average turbine has a one in 1000 chance of catching fire over an expected 20-year life, and the estimated cost of a wind turbine fire is $4.5 million, with recent estimates suggesting the cost could be as high as $7-8 million. That is just the cost of infrastructure replacement, which does not consider the costs of lost power generation or unquantifiable potential environmental costs. For example, the Lake Boney fire in Australia in 2006 burnt 80,000 hectares of a national park and was ignited by a wind turbine fire during a heatwave, leaving 63,000 homes without power. There have also been more recent wildfires that have been a direct product of ignited turbines, such as the Juniper Canyon wildfire in Southern Washington in 2019, and the Buffalo Gap fire just outside of Abilene, Texas in 2020. These sorts of events are becoming more frequent as the wind energy industry expands in tandem with the corresponding risk created by turbine fires. It is important to consider the cost of prevention and risk reduction of wind turbine fires versus not only the financial costs, but the related environmental costs as well.

The Role of Early Fire Detection

The combustible nature of the turbines requires sufficient fire protection and forms of risk reduction. Many turbines already contain some form of fire safety measures, but there have been several reports that current means are not effective or efficient for the degree of the risk. If current systems are not well maintained, they can further contribute to fire risk in the nacelle – the opposite result intended from their installation. Even with early detection systems, intervention by firefighters is challenging due to the height of the turbine, so a more robust approach is recommended. For example, fire suppression paired with early detection and alarming systems (ground sensors, cameras combined with artificial intelligence) can detect and contain fires early and minimize further damage. These forms of fire security measures can be paired with more passive forms of protection, such as flame-retardant paint or lightning protection systems to further reduce fire risk. In short, installing early fire detection systems to try and mitigate the potential destruction that comes from wind turbine fires, can significantly reduce damage, lessen the costs of repair, and address safety concerns.