National media outlets and anti-wind farm groups seized a recently published review which claimed that wind turbine fires are a major problem for the industry. Dr Guillermo Rein from Imperial College London examined the potential scale of economic losses from turbines catching fire and concluded that 117 wind turbines catch fire each year globally – 10 times more than the 11.7 fires reported by publicly available sources each year.
However, on the morning of 23 July 2014, the university was forced to apologise after admitting the article may have misled people somewhat. Rein’s research methodology had relied on press releases which was not considered robust data, leading RenewableUK to question the reliability of the data sources.
Chris Streatfeild, health and safety director for RenewableUK, stated that Rein had failed to understand the basic fire safety standards used for any large wind turbine. Whilst fires are a risk for wind turbines, they only become a health and safety issue if they pose a danger to people. Guidelines ensure that wind turbines are installed a sufficient distance away from the nearest residential dwelling. In addition the Health and Safety Executive recently gave the wind industry sector a clean bill of health and did not highlight any cause for concern.
On his personal blog Rein admitted that with one fire per 10,000 turbines, wind remains one of the safest energy sources. “Once more, I would like to defend the robust fire safety record of the wind industry worldwide,” he said.
It is sad to see how quickly people accept negative statistics associated with renewable energy sources such as wind turbines. Inevitably, wind turbines- like all machinery- will require maintenance, however this is far less severe, and easier to control, than a nuclear meltdown.