Council
13 June, 2025
Britnell addresses wind turbine concerns
MEMBER for South West Coast Roma Britnell has called on the state government to “urgently address fire danger” from wind turbines across southwest Victoria.
In a statement issued late last month, Ms Britnell said an Energy Safe Victoria survey had found half of Victoria’s 2500 wind turbines had not been fitted with automatic fire detection and suppression systems.
“This means 1240 turbines are at higher risk of a significant fire, as adequate firefighting from ground level is impossible given the height of turbines exceeds 150 metres,” Ms Britnell said.
“Late last month a wind turbine, constructed in 2019 at Bulgana, caught fire.
“There was also a turbine fire in 2023 at the Yambuk wind farm near Port Fairy, followed by a fire in June last year at Cape Nelson South near Portland.
“For all these fires, all that could be done is to watch and let the fire burn itself out.”
Southwest Victoria has the first and the most turbines in Victoria.
According to Ms Britnell, many are ready to be decommissioned and have oil spilling down the shafts - and there is an increased fire danger as turbines age.
“Currently Energy Safe Victoria does not have the power to force wind turbine operators in Victoria to retrofit automatic fire detection and suppression systems.
“During summer, there are often windy conditions coupled with 40-degree days.”
She believes the turbines, in those conditions, would become “flame throwers” if they caught fire.
“The risk of one starting many major fires as they burn (and the wind changes direction) is real and horrifying to think about.”
She believes the state government has been “negligent” in its rush to approve wind farms.
“The government urgently needs to introduce changes to the legislation to ensure the safety of our communities,” she said.
“The community has been concerned about this for 20 years but has been demonised as anti-renewables when asking about turbine fire risk.
“They will be rightly asking how many of these ticking fire time bombs are either adjacent or close to state parks and forests, which already have massive fuel loads.”
