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ISSN 2063-5346
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SAFETY MANAGEMENT AND FIRE PROTECTION IN WIND TURBINE NACELLE

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Prem Kumar R, R. Saravanan, R. Bharathiraja, B. Gopalakrishnan, C. S. Rathnasabapathy
» doi: 10.31838/ecb/2023.12.s2.233

Abstract

Wind turbines play a major role in harnessing green power across 100+ countries with an installed capacity of 837 GW as of 2021 employing more than three lakh people worldwide. Through technology innovations and economies of scale, the global wind power market has nearly quadrupled in size over the past decade and established itself as one of the most cost-competitive and resilient power sources across the world. The size and generation capacity of each wind turbine has been increased in recent years. Higher the height, greater the rotor diameter helps to harness more power. Hence this becomes a need in the market and challenge to manufacture, construct and maintain components that could last for at least two decades involving high investments and operating costs per wind turbine. Any fire incident in these turbines could result in huge financial losses up to $6 million and the restoration period would be a minimum of 6 to 12 months. Studies show the normal firefighting methods and response time for the fire engine to reach the location is challenging and would not help much to save people nor assets. The objective of this study is to discuss the safety management considerations and active fire protection systems that are needed on the wind turbine nacelle to manage the fire risks during its lifetime using innovative technologies which are new and best in the industry.

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