Wind turbine nacelle fire

In 2014, researchers at Imperial College London and the Swedish institute SP cross-checked the available sources: the wind industry was reporting about a dozen fires a year, while they estimated closer to one hundred seventeen, across a fleet of more than two hundred thousand machines. Fire ranked second among catastrophic accidents, behind blade failure. Lightning led the causes, followed by electrical faults, mechanical failures and maintenance errors. The nacelle holds everything needed to burn. Hydraulic and gearbox oil, grease, cables, the converter and transformer on machines that carry them up top, and a composite housing that feeds the fire. A bearing that overheats, an arc in the power cabinet, and the fire spreads within minutes. Firefighters have no ladder for that height, and the wind farm is often remote: they set a perimeter, wait for the machine to burn out and watch for burning debris falling to the ground. The loss is almost always a total loss of the nacelle, sometimes of the rotor and the tower. The market draws the consequence. On large machines and offshore, underwriters ask for early detection (aspirating smoke detection, arc sensors, thermal monitoring) linked to turbine shutdown and grid disconnection, and automatic suppression in the high-risk zones, by inert gas or aerosol. The VdS 3523 and CFPA-Europe guidelines serve as references. Without this equipment, the deductible goes up or capacity tightens. Business interruption weighs heavily: replacing a nacelle takes a scarce crane, sometimes a vessel, and months of waiting.

• Uadiale et al., "Overview of Problems and Solutions in Fire Protection Engineering of Wind Turbines," Fire Safety Science, IAFSS (2014)
• You et al., review of fire risk assessment and fire protection for wind turbines, Heliyon (2023)