Western Victorian wind turbine catches fire
The cause of a wind turbine fire at a Wimmera renewable energy hub is still unknown after it burst into flames earlier this week.
Victoria
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The nacelle of a wind turbine at a western Victorian renewable energy hub has been destroyed after it burst into flames this week.
Local authorities were alerted to a wind turbine fire on Wednesday evening at the Bulgana Green Power Hub, located at Joel Joel in the Wimmera region, about 20km east of Stawell.
The Joel Joel wind farm is owned by French renewable energy company Neoen, which forms part of their Bulgana Green Power Hub — producing 204MW through the wind farm at full capacity, with a 20MW/34MWh battery.
Stawell, Great Western and Ararat fire brigades attended the scene where the fire caused one of the blades to fall. No area below the turbine was burnt as the blade fell onto the turbine’s hardstand.
Energy Safe Victoria said they have staff at the scene assessing the incident.
“Energy Safe Victoria is investigating a fire at the Bulgana Green Power Hub that has destroyed the nacelle of a wind turbine,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“Our investigators and engineers are at the scene. At this stage the cause of the fire is still unknown.”
The incident comes after it was revealed by The Weekly Times half of Victoria’s wind turbines have been built without automatic fire suppression systems, according to the state’s energy safety regulator.
Energy Safe Victoria’s survey of the state’s 2500 turbines found 49.5 per cent had not been fitted with systems that could automatically detect a fire in the generator housing (nacelle) and release a gas suppressant to bring it under control.
The Bulgana Green Power Hub is joined by the Numurkah Solar Farm (128MWp) and the Victorian Big Battery (300MW / 450MWh) as part of Neoen’s Victorian 652MW renewable energy portfolio.
Neoen representatives were contacted for comment about the incident on Friday morning.
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