Fire destroys wind turbine, burning blade falls, at Victoria green power hub

A wind turbine has been partially destroyed at the Bulgana Green Power Hub in Victoria’s Great Western region, after a fire broke out in the turbine’s nacelle on Wednesday night.

A statement from Victoria’s Country Fire Authority (CFA) on Thursday says the turbine fire started at around 9.30pm on Wednesday night and was attended by seven CFA units from Ararat, Stawell and Great Western fire brigades.

“CFA crews that attended did what they could to create safety zones and remained clear of the structure,” District 16 Commander Ben Townsend said. This included contacting the operator of the turbines to shut them down, he added.

“Crews left the scene in the hands of the owners to monitor and just after 3am they got called back because a blade had caught fire, dislodged and fell to the ground.”

Image source: CFA Victoria

The CFA said on Thursday that the scene was under control and the cause of the fire under investigation.

The Bulgana Green Power Hub was originally developed by Neoen Australia, but was sold off to the Julia Gillard chaired HMC Capital as part of the divestment of Neoen’s Victorian wind, solar and battery assets in December of last year.

The Stawell-based project combines 56 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines and a 20 MW, 32 MWh Tesla battery and has been in full commercial operation since December 2021.

A statement from Neoen, emailed to Renew Economy on Friday, said the wind farm had been switched off since the incident and would remain offline until further notice.

“We can confirm that the fire was managed and effectively contained thanks to the quick action and support from the local fire authorities,” the statement says. 

“Everyone in the emergency rescue team and within the local communities is safe, and the area surrounding the wind turbine has been safely secured with an exclusion zone.

“Our site team with support and supervision from the relevant safety authorities, is continuing to monitor the situation closely and in line with our emergency protocols.

“We take safety very seriously and are currently undertaking a detailed investigation on this matter,” Neoen said.

A statement from Energy Safe Victoria on Thursday says it is “investigating a fire at the Bulgana Green Power Hub that has destroyed the nacelle of a wind turbine. Our investigators and engineers are at the scene.”

“At this stage the cause of the fire is still unknown,” the statement says.

Coincidentally, reports emerged earlier this week that a survey conducted by Energy Save Victoria found that half Victoria’s 2500 wind turbines have no automatic fire suppression system.

HMC Capital has been contacted for comment.