Posters

Abstract

In recent years, the world has seen growing interest in energy transition from fossil fuels to a more diverse and less carbon intensity energy mix. In order to maximize energy output and reduce downtime, the wind power industry should work towards guaranteeing safety of its operations, which will in turn have a positive effect on productivity, energy throughput and ultimately bring economic benefits. The wind power industry could profit from the lessons learned by the Process industries, like Oil and Gas, in how productivity and safety of operations go hand-in-hand. This work analysed safety incidents involving the wind power industry from available literature and databases managed by groups that advocate against implementation of wind farms. Human injuries were found in 2.7% of the accidents, with 1.1% leading to fatalities. Risk of fatality due to a fire in a wind turbine was estimated at 1 to 16 cases per million, per annum. Two common tools for hazard and risk assessment in the process industries were selected and applied to a generic wind turbine, using fire as the ultimate consequence. A Fault tree with fire as the top event was developed considering the historical analysis of accidents and references in literature. Common preventive measures and mitigating barriers were reviewed and used in three generic bow tie diagrams. These diagrams could be useful as a starting point in risk analysis of specific wind power energy applications. An important gap in the wind power industry encountered in this work was the lack of publicity and for compulsory report of accidents in wind farms. Looking at the level of risk that was estimated due to fire accidents alone, the wind power industry should not be considered as "low-risk" and better hazard control practices may be required.