IN THE LINE

OF FIRE
How the threat of wind farm fires is
evolving as a result of changes in
turbine technology and the climate
– and how operators can manage
those risks
SUMMARY
This report shares insights from Following that, we share advice about
wind industry fire experts about how how you can best manage these risks
manufacturers, operators and investors with a combination of financial and
can respond to the evolving threat fire physical measures. These insights
poses to the sector. It also lays down a come from both the industry experts
challenge to the industry to improve its we interviewed for this report, and fire
approach to fire risk. specialists in Firetrace’s own team who
can draw from expertise that stretches
We start by looking at the following risks back to our launch in the 1980s.
and the impacts they have on turbine
fires:

■■ Warming world

■■ Aging turbines

■■ New materials

■■ Offshore giants

■■ Skills shortages
INTRODUCTION
The history books of the 2010s have
not been written. But when they are, it’s
difficult to know whether those in the
global wind industry will look on them
fondly or not.

On one hand, the industry enjoyed a

decade of stunning growth. Total wind
capacity rose fourfold from 159GW at
the start of 2010 to 651GW at the end
of 2019, and it is set to achieve 2,110GW
by 2030 according to the Global Wind
Energy Council. This has been driven by
factors including falling costs and the
evolution of larger turbines.

But on the other, the industry received

many stark reminders of why climate
change is a huge concern for the world.
Data from the US National Oceanic &
Atmospheric Administration and NASA,
among others, showed the 2010s was
the hottest decade since modern record-
keeping started in 1880. There’s so much
more for wind to do.

We don’t yet know how the last decade

will be remembered. However, at the
start of the 2020s, we can see how those
macro trends combine to pose new
challenges for companies across this
industry. One of these is the changing
nature of turbine fires.

Introduction 3
OPENING UP ON
FIRE DATA
HOW OFTEN DO WIND TURBINES CATCH FIRE?
It feels like this should be an easy of the industry to set the agenda for
question to answer, but there is discussion of wind’s safety record,
little rigorous data that insurers or and stifles good stories about the
manufacturers share publicly. The progress being made.
numbers we can see vary wildly.
■■ Operator uncertainty: The lack of
For example, an article in Wind Power rigorous figures makes it difficult for
Engineering magazine in 2020 estimated wind farm owners and operators to
that one in 2,000 turbines would catch decide what level of fire protection
fire, and Fire Protection Engineering they need in order to protect the
magazine put the figure at one in large investments they are making in
10,000 in 2019. An independent fire their wind farms.
expert we spoke to said that the risk of
■■ Reliance on old data: Continued use
a catastrophic fire (i.e. only fires that
destroy the turbine) is one in 15,000. of turbine fire data from the mid-
2010s means companies are unable
If one in 2,000 turbines catches fire each to spot recent fire trends and address
year, that suggests that a typical wind them.
farm with 150 turbines would experience
one or two fires during 20 years of This is strange because experts
operation. But the lack of figures that in the safety industry believe that
the industry can agree on causes manufacturers and operators are taking
challenges for the industry. fire risk seriously, and see progress is
being made. This is both with active fire
Here are three major challenges: suppression systems and passive design
improvements.
■■ Negative reputation: By failing to
be transparent, the wind industry is Chris Streatfeild, director at health and
leaving the way clear for opponents safety consultant Forge Risk, said he can

4 IN THE LINE OF FIRE

see why the wind industry is cautious to be better about sharing and
about opening up on this data, but adds communicating data about incidents,
companies are “fundamentally going in because we need to share, and we need
the right direction in terms of health and to learn from it… I fully understand the
safety”. He says the industry has a good industry’s caution, but I think we should
track record on managing fire risk and be more open, more up front and more
should be confident. willing to own the issue.”

“I think we need to take data ownership. We expect this report to raise more
The industry certainly has opportunities discussion about evolving fire risks.

EVOLVING FIRE RISKS

In this report, we will look at how that However, climate change adds an extra
combination of fast growth in the wind dimension, as it has played a major role
industry and the warming planet are in worsening the wildfires that we have
both affecting how companies should seen this year in countries including
manage this risk. Australia and the US, most notably
California. We have seen the role that
For example, the growth of the wind wind turbines can play in starting fires
industry, both onshore and offshore, on nearby brushland in recent years.
has led to the developments of larger A hotter and drier climate can only
turbines using materials that lead to increase the severity of fires on nearby
different fire risks. In addition, the fast land, and thus operators’ liabilities.
growth of wind means there is a growing
fleet of older turbines that need to be Wind companies must be proactive
managed and maintained. Unfortunately, to manage these emerging risks –
in countries such as the US, the number and, broadly, we are confident that
of technicians needed to do that work companies take fire risks seriously.
has not grown at the same pace. Operators may see them as low-
frequency events but they also know
These would be worthy of analysis even that replacing a turbine is expensive. If
if the planet wasn’t warming. We will Covid-19 has taught us anything, it’s the
unpack each of them and explain how need to be ready for rare catastrophes.
they impact on turbine fire risk in the
following pages.

Opening up on fire data 5

FIVE EMERGING
RISK FACTORS
For wind farm owners and technicians, There is no room for complacency, but
the good news is that turbine fires will that should be heartening for all the
rarely pose a threat to the lives of the players.
people working in the turbines.
For owners, the bigger threat is financial.
For example, even if a particular turbine It could cost an operator between $1.5M
had technicians in it for 100 hours per and $3M to install an onshore turbine,
year, that is only 1.1% of the total 8,760 but replacing one after a catastrophic
hours the turbine could potentially fire is likely to cost three or four times
operate for in that year. The turbine that. That could put it in the region of
would be shut down for a majority of the $8M to $9M. These figures apply for
100 hours during service. turbines currently being installed, not
older smaller models.
If you combine this with the fact that the
risk of a particular turbine setting on fire Therefore, wind farm owners and
is only one in 2,000 in any given year, operators must be aware of how fire
that means the threat to life is very low. risks in their turbines are evolving. We’ve
Firms also have evacuation procedures spoken to a series of industry experts
in place in place at turbines if the worst during research for this report, and here
happens. are the five biggest challenges that they
identified.

6 IN THE LINE OF FIRE

1. WARMING WORLD
This year, we’ve seen devastating ■■ Game Ranch Fire: A turbine fire in
wildfires in Australia and the US. These Texas in July 2020 caused a 3,200-
are being exacerbated by climate acre wildfire in Nolan County.
change, which is raising temperatures
■■ Juniper Canyon: A turbine fire in
and causing droughts.
southern Washington state in July
Those are the perfect conditions for 2019 ignited the surrounding grass
fire, and expose operators to additional and brush after melted sections
risk if the turbines on their site spark an fell to the ground. This caused the
environmental disaster in a much wider more-than-250-acre Juniper Canyon
area. wildfire.

Let’s look at Pacific Gas & Electric, These situations can expose operators
which in June 2020 emerged from 18 to legal claims from neighbouring
months in bankruptcy protection. It landowners even if there was no
filed for bankruptcy due to multi-billion- negligence by the operator. They can
dollar liabilities for wildfires that were also provoke arguments between
started in 2019 by its power lines. We insurers, manufacturers and operators,
must clarify that it wasn’t linked to a as insurers want to make sure they are
turbine fire, but reminds us that energy only paying out for genuine accidents
infrastructure is a wildfire risk. and not poor machinery or maintenance.

Such wildfires can cause huge One insurance expert, who didn’t want
environmental and reputational damage, to be named, said it was a particular
as well as exposing operators to costly issue for new models that aren’t yet
damages. In recent years, we have seen industry standard: “If there’s some failure
examples in the wind industry of where in the unit itself, the insurer will look to
turbines have contributed to similar but the manufacturer to bear some of that
smaller fires. cost,” he said.

■■ Buffalo Gap: A turbine fire in Texas This shows that turbine fires can have
in August 2019 sparked the 250-acre far-reaching impacts.
Rhodes Ranch 3 Fire in Mulberry
Canyon.

Five emerging risk factors 7

2. AGING TURBINES
The first major wave of turbines installed Essentially, this is not very different
in the mid-1990s are coming to the end from cars. Older models may be less
of their operational lives and, overall, reliable because the technology was less
around 7% of the current wind fleet sophisticated, in addition to their age.
is now over 15 years old. That figure This can exacerbate problems in the
is around 28% in Europe due to the three primary ignition sources in typical
maturity of the sector. turbines:

This is likely to raise additional fire ■■ The converter and capacitor cabinets
risks for operators, although there can in the nacelle
be a huge difference in the risks in a
■■ The transformer
particular turbine given how they are
maintained. An older turbine that has ■■ The nacelle brake area
been well maintained could be a low
risk, whereas an older turbine that hasn’t The hydraulic area is sometimes
been well-maintained, or has a well- considered a fourth ignition source. Of
known defect, could be high risk. these three primary ignition sources,
most fires start in the converter cabinet
or capacitor cabinet in the nacelle. Most
fires are caused by electrical failures,
from short circuits or cable failures to
overloading or generator problems.

These threats are all relatively well-

known, but we don’t yet know the
impact that the aging turbine fleet could
have on the frequency of fires.

8 IN THE LINE OF FIRE

3. NEW MATERIALS
The risks with older machines may In Europe, the emergence of wooden
be well-known. The risks with some turbine towers may be a good story from
materials in new turbines are an an environmental perspective, but is a
altogether different proposition. development that the safety community
should follow closely, including blade
One of these is the fiberglass used in lengths that can cause an increased
blades. fire risk. Wind’s growth has been driven
by innovation and falling costs, but the
JP Conkwright, turbine fire investigator
sector must make sure these materials
and assistant professor of fire protection
don’t create additional risks too.
and safety engineering technology at
Eastern Kentucky University, explained
that making turbine blades out of
fiberglass may expose workers to
explosive dust during repairs.

He said: “We’re doing a lot of blade We’re inside a

repairs. We’re doing a lot of internal
blade repairs, and the fiberglass dust is
confined space,
much more explosive than normal dust. 300 feet in the
We’re inside a confined space, 300 feet
in the air, creating fiberglass dust with a
air, creating
grinder.” fiberglass dust
Conkwright said he was working with with a grinder...
turbine manufacturers to address the
issue.

Five emerging risk factors 9

4. OFFSHORE GIANTS
Size also matters offshore. The risks to life in offshore wind fires
are low: the only reason for technicians
The largest confirmed offshore wind to be in an offshore wind turbine is for
order is for 13MW Haliade-X machines maintenance and, in that case, they are
by GE Renewable Energy at the first looking for the turbine risks. If a fire
two phases of the 3.6GW Dogger Bank breaks out, there is already an escape
complex in UK waters. These machines vessel available; and we also believe
are as tall as skyscrapers and, as they the high barriers to entry for offshore
are many miles from dry land, they pose contractors protects operators.
a different set of risks from those in
onshore wind. However, operators and investors
will be very aware that the costs of a
At present, the industry is managing catastrophic fire at an offshore wind
them well. turbine would be huge. These are major
investments that will only get larger as
We spoke to G+, the global health and
manufacturers race to develop 20MW
safety organization for offshore wind. It
turbines, and hiring vessels to repair
told us there had been no fire incidents
destroyed machines can cost hundreds
at offshore wind farms in 2018, 2019 or
of thousands of dollars a day.
the first quarter of 2020, which were its
most recent set of statistics. This is the definition of a ‘low frequency,
high cost’ event.

The costs of a
catastrophic fire
at an offshore
wind turbine
would be huge

10 IN THE LINE OF FIRE

5. SKILLS SHORTAGES
Operators in some countries must
be aware of potential impacts of
skills shortages among skilled O&M
technicians, and thus on potential fire
risks.

Let’s look at the US. Wind farms totalling

9.1GW were commissioned in the US in
2019 – the third highest year on record
– and an extra 4.4GW in the first six
months of 2020. There are now more
than 60,000 turbines totalling 109.9GW
spinning in the US, but only around
7,000 technicians in the US to manage
that fleet.

This is prompting O&M specialists to

warn of a shortage of skilled technicians.

In addition, operators want contractors

to deliver projects cheaper, and are
ramping up the pressure on contractors
to drive down costs. This is sparking
concerns about service quality suffering
as contractors seek to carry out O&M
at lower prices. Project owners must be
vigilant that this doesn’t store up extra
fire risks in the coming years.

Five emerging risk factors 11

TACKLING THE
EMERGING THREATS
These five challenges will affect the ways For operators, this will involve a
that operators, manufacturers and others combination of active fire suppression
in the wind value chain seek to manage to stop fires when they have started
fire risks in turbines. and insurance to protect them when the
worst happens. But they will also look to
manufacturers to prevent turbine fires
from happening.

12
DESIGNING OUT RISK
During our conversations with This is not solely an issue for
manufacturers, we are confident that manufacturers though.
companies in the supply chain are taking
the threat of fires seriously. Companies Operators can also take steps to reduce
appear committed to sharing health and fire risks in their turbines. This includes
safety best practice across the industry. by working with skilled technicians that
will ensure their turbines are operating
In terms of research and development, safely; picking turbine platforms
the main focus is looking at ways to that adhere to the highest fire safety
prevent by reducing friction and using standards; and taking a proactive
different oils, such as hydraulic oils in approach to installing fire suppression
the turbine pitch control systems. They systems before fires do break out.
also want to replace flammable materials
with non-flammable materials across the If they don’t then it is their reputation on
turbine and its associated infrastructure the line.
where possible.

However, as an electrical system, fire

risk can’t be completely removed – and
we’ve already seen earlier how the
drive for lighter turbines creates new
risks too. There is also a strong focus If operators
on evacuation technology if workers do
need to exit quickly.
don’t take steps
to reduce fire
Manufacturers also have to cope with
the different fire standards in various risks in the their
markets in which they operate, although turbines, it is
our experience is that companies are
aiming for the high standards globally. their reputation
Remember, a turbine fire is a liability on the line
for them too, both as a financial cost at
a specific project and to their industry
reputation for reliability.

Tackling the emerging threats 13

THE BENEFITS OF
FIRE SUPPRESSION
Operators can use several types of However, only fire suppression systems
technologies to protect their wind can help to protect turbines from fires
turbines from fires. These include fire that have already started. For example,
detection, arc flash detection, condition our systems target the main ignition
monitoring systems and gaseous fire sources in turbines, which are in and
suppression systems. Most focus on around the nacelles and transformer
preventing fires from starting. areas.

MAIN TYPES OF FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEMS

CONVERTER AND CAPACITOR NACELLE BRAKE AREA
CABINET PROTECTION PROTECTION

Most fires start in the converter cabinet The nacelle brake area is also relatively
or capacitor cabinet, so most owners simple to protect in most wind turbines
protect these areas first. utilizing a Firetrace Indirect Low
Pressure system. When protecting
These hazards can usually be protected this area, Firetrace flexible linear heat
with one Firetrace Direct Low Pressure detection tubing detects the fire, and
system. The proprietary Firetrace flexible the 3M Novec 1230 suppression agent is
linear heat detection tubing can be delivered through separate nozzles.
routed through the bank of cabinets to
quickly detect and deliver 3M Novec TRANSFORMER PROTECTION
1230 suppression agent to the source of
a fire. When protecting a transformer space,
Firetrace is able to deliver a robust
system with an appropriate amount of
3M Novec 1230 to suppress an event. As
turbines keep growing, these risks will
evolve, and Firetrace has a dedicated
team of engineers and business
development managers to customize
solutions for your application.

14 IN THE LINE OF FIRE

WHAT DO I NEED FOR MY TURBINES?
Every customer and turbine platform will be different, but here is a practical guide
for the systems you are likely to need – and what you should be looking to spend.

TURBINE TURBINE RECOMMENDED RECOMMENDED LEVEL

CAPACITY COST INVESTMENT* OF PROTECTION

1MW $1M $ 10,000 Capacitor & Converter Cabinets

Capacitor & Converter Cabinets

2MW $2M $ 20,000
Nacelle Brake Area
ONSHORE RANGE

Capacitor & Converter Cabinets

3MW $3M $ 30,000 Nacelle Brake Area
Transformer

Capacitor & Converter Cabinets

4MW $4M $ 40,000 Nacelle Brake Area
Transformer

Capacitor & Converter Cabinets

5MW $5M $ 50,000 Nacelle Brake Area
Transformer

Capacitor & Converter Cabinets

6MW $6M $ 60,000 Nacelle Brake Area
OFFSHORE RANGE

Transformer

Capacitor & Converter Cabinets

7MW $7M $ 70,000 Nacelle Brake Area
Transformer

Capacitor & Converter Cabinets

8 MW $8M $ 80,000 Nacelle Brake Area
Transformer

*Based on cost of a wind turbine, rate of fire at 1 in 2,000 per year, and typical turbine lifetime of 20 years.

The benefits of fire suppression 15

CONCLUSION
Fire doesn’t stand still. Neither should Installing fire suppression systems at the
your approach to fire protection. three main ignition sources we identified
on page 14 costs on average $26,000,
It’s true to say that many of the fire risks which is less than 1% of the average
in turbines are the same as they have installation cost of a 3MW onshore wind
ever been. A wind turbine is a power turbine. It is less than 0.6% of the $4.5M
generator on top of a tall tower with that insurance broker GCube says is the
access to large amounts of oxygen. average cost of a wind turbine – and
That won’t change and most operators exponentially smaller than the financial
take steps to manage it. When a turbine impacts of some of the wildfires we’ve
fire takes hold then it’s impossible for seen in recent years.
firefighters to extinguish it.
It’s an approach that makes sense for
However, the changes that we are seeing individual operators.
in the fleet – both in old and new turbine
platforms – as well as challenges with
technicians and the warming world
are raising new challenges that you
can prepare for. It’s impossible to ever
completely eliminate fire risk in your
turbines, but it’s sensible to try to when
the costs can be so large. When a turbine
fire takes hold,
it’s impossible
for firefighters to
extinguish it

16 IN THE LINE OF FIRE

A HEALTHY INDUSTRY
For us, though, there is a bigger issue at Nobody wants to be the one hit by a
stake. one in 2,000 turbine fire. We see why
operators don’t want to publicize those
We see the work that companies incidents. But the whole industry should
in this industry do on fire risk. This look to do what it can to shout about the
includes work in their own research and positives too. This will boost its appeal
development teams, and in collaboration to communities and policymakers,
with others across the wind value chain. improve its ‘social license to operate’,
Yes, we know there are emerging risks to and unlock further investment.
be managed, but we are confident that
companies see the safety of workers and So, let’s discuss. Let’s share more data.
communities as central. And if there are challenges that we need
to address, let’s do that together. Letting
Fundamentally, the industry has a good critics set the terms of the debate tells
story to tell. Turbine fires are a rarity people that we’re worried – when, in
and the safety record of wind compares reality, we should be confident. Talking
favourably with other parts of the about the risks discussed in this report
energy sector. can only help us to address them more
quickly.
Why then do manufacturers and
operators so rarely talk about this story? It is with this assured spirit that wind will
Why is it so hard to find rigorous fire thrive in the 2020s and beyond.
data to back up this story? All too often,
the discussion about fire risk in wind
turbines is dominated by critics of the
sector. But the industry has a strong Would you like to talk about the
record and is seeking to make further risks in this report? How about your
improvements every year. approach to fire risk in your portfolio?

These are the stories that we should be Get in touch with the Firetrace team
talking about. today.

Conclusion 17