Community
4 October, 2024
Wind turbine fire safety concerns
MEMBER for Polwarth Richard Riordan believes regional communities have been “left in the dark” over the fire safety of wind turbines.
“I believe the safety of regional communities is being placed at risk following the revelation that the government’s energy regulator has no records of internal fire suppression equipment being installed in any of Victoria’s nearly 1500 wind turbines,” Mr Riordan said.
“The majority of Victoria’s wind farm turbines are located in some of the state’s most fire prone areas, with some future projects set to be located in timber plantations.”
With another 900 turbines in the pipeline across regional Victoria, Mr Riordan claimed that “under-resourced” CFA volunteers had been left in the dark as to which of them posed the greater fire risk to their local communities.
He alleged a wind turbine fire near Portland in June this year had to be left to burn as there was no equipment available to fight fires at such heights.
“A high-intensity fire 200 metres in the air can spray burning oil and fiberglass kilometres in certain conditions,” Mr Riordan said.
“While there have only been about three turbine fires in Victoria to date, the risk increases as ageing wind turbines degrade.”
In a statement issued last week, Mr Riordan said leaders in the wind industry had confirmed that internal fire suppression equipment was optional and not compulsory for turbines in Victoria.
As Shadow Minister for Emergency Services, Mr Riordan believes regional fire safety should not be optional.
“The government is fast tracking the wind industry in regional Victoria but failing to ensure fire safety standards keep pace,” he said.
He called for an immediate, full audit of all turbines and for regional communities to be informed of the relevant risk.
