Australia and other high-emission nations must take drastic action to stop climate change impacts becoming irreversible. An important part of this action must include a rapid transition away from our reliance on fossil fuels to a combination of renewables, storage and energy efficiency.
Sadly, the energy transition is increasingly bogged down in a culture war quagmire that is driven by conservative media, politicians and vested interests. The recent headline claiming that ‘Pilot fears wind farms will create ‘no-fly zones’ in fire hotspots’ and that the construction of wind turbines would make it ‘nearly impossible’ to fight bushfires in the future is a classic example of hyperbole over riding measured conversation.
In the 2000s, the main arguments used against renewable energy tended to be claims about human and animal health and impacts on property values. Both of these have been soundly debunked over the years since then. One of the favoured arguments currently being used against renewables – including turbines, solar panels and batteries – is the ‘threat’ of increased fire risk.
Cam Walker, spokesperson for the Australian Firefighters Climate Alliance (AFCA) responded by saying:
“Renewable power facilities do not pose a significant threat of increased fire risk. The AFCA is concerned that misinformation about renewables is rife, and that bad faith actors are amplifying misinformation in order to slow the energy transition”.
“There is nothing unique about the challenges posed by renewables. The firefighting environment is constantly changing, and fire fighters are very good at adapting to change and learning new skills. To suggest otherwise undermines how professional firefighters are”.
“A common argument used by campaigners who oppose wind farms is the claim that renewables increase the risk of fire in regional communities. There is no data that we have seen that suggest that areas with wind farms have more frequent or intense fires after turbines are installed” Mr Walker continued.
Authorities consider the risk from wind turbine fires to be low. For instance, the Country Fire Service in South Australia says wind turbine fires are rare.
The Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council's Wind Farms and Bushfire Operations document says "wind farms are not expected to adversely affect fire behaviour, nor create major ignitions risks".
It says wind farms may actually reduce the risk of bushfires starting from lightning since the lightning would hit the turbines rather than the ground because they are tall, metal structures. Unlike isolated trees, vegetation is cleared around the base of turbines, making the likelihood of a fire getting away very low.
“To claim that renewable energy poses a special risk of fire is simply not true. What we need is a measured and sensible conversation about energy sources. As fire fighters, we remember the fire in the Hazelwood coalmine that burned for 45 days and needed many hundreds of firefighters to put it out. It had enormous public health impacts and many firefighters suffered serious health impacts from working in the mine open cut. Compared with the reality of what a fire at a fossil fuel facility looks like, the current opposition to renewables because of claimed fire risk sometimes verges on the hysterical. In reality, a fire in a turbine nacelle is generally a rare and isolated event” concluded Mr Walker.
AFCA has developed a brief paper on renewables and fire risk to outline our perspective.