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Firetrace: Lowering wind turbine fire risk

Published by , Assistant Editor
Energy Global,


The wind turbine industry should expect 1 - 2 catastrophic fire incidents at an average wind farm during the lifecycle of a wind turbine according to a new report from a provider of fire suppression systems for the wind industry, Firetrace International.

In 'The Complete Guide to Wind Turbine Fire Protection', Firetrace explores the cost and benefit of managing this risk - providing wind turbine owners, operators, and their insurers with an assessment of the likelihood of fires, average cost of a fire loss, and cost of protection using one or more fire suppression systems.

According to a provider of insurance services for renewable energy projects, over a 7-year period, the average loss per fire incident is US$4.5 million – a figure set to increase with the expansion of larger, more advanced turbines. Most turbine fires originate in the nacelle, making them difficult to fight due to the significant health and safety risk of sending a team up to extinguish the fire. If not immediately suppressed, fires that begin in the nacelle lead to total destruction of the turbine and can potentially spread into the surrounding environment – incurring not only financial losses, but reputational damage to the owner operator, and the industry as a whole.

In order to reduce the severity of nacelle fires, automated fire suppression systems must be installed at the main points of ignition – converter and capacitor cabinets, the nacelle brake, and the transformer. Firetrace is an experienced provider of these systems which are designed with flexible detection tubing. Once a fire breaks out, this tubing ruptures and a suppression agent is released automatically through the tubing or via diffuser nozzles nearest to the point where the most heat is detected, extinguishing the fire precisely where it starts and before it can take hold.

The guide includes practical advice and recommendations for investment into fire suppression systems based on turbine size and cost. Even after accounting for the likelihood of a fire, once a turbine's capacity exceeds 3 MW, the cost of fire suppression to protect all three risk areas is outweighed by the cost of replacing that turbine. Installation of fire suppression systems at all three ignition sources typically cost less than US$30 000 – less than 1% of the average installation cost of a 3 MW onshore wind turbine and less than 0.6% of the average cost of a fire loss.

The Firetrace report can be downloaded here.

Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/wind/27072020/firetrace-lowering-wind-turbine-fire-risk/

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