Catastrophic Failures - Investigation, Planning and Risk Mitigation, Decommissioning and Rebuilding
(Room Pavilion 3)
28 Feb 19
9:00 AM
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9:25 AM
Tracks:
Incident & Hazard Review
Catastrophic failures such as tower fires, nacelle fires, blade strikes and broken main components are unfortunate events that occur in the wind industry. Wind turbines contain the perfect environment for seemingly minor situations to become catastrophic. In fire situations, they have multiple ignition sources, continuity of combustible materials, and a lack of extinguishment options. Other failures are hard to mitigate due to the elevated nature of the work. The failures cause a loss of downtime to these valuable assets, impacting energy production and economic output. When taking on a tower removal and rebuild due to a catastrophic failure, there are often many aspects to take into consideration, such as inspections, investigations, recovery plans, insurance communication and engineered decommissioning plans. Tower removals often require alternative demolition approaches, including destructive removal processes when necessary. While these failures cannot always be predicted and/or prevented, there are measures that can be taken to mitigate the risk of these occurrences. Mortenson Energy Services has vast knowledge and expertise with catastrophic failures and can make a valuable contribution to educating on best practices, safety and prevention of these failures.