Nacelle fire and blade loss at Endeavor I wind farm, Osceola County, Iowa

A wind turbine caught fire in the early hours of a Monday in June 2017 at the Endeavor I Wind Energy Center in Osceola County, Iowa. The fire began in the nacelle, where the generator and associated equipment are housed. Blades detached and fell to the ground over several hours, with the first reported to have fallen around 7:30am, a second around 8:00am and the third around 9:20am. The initial call was made at about 4:30am and the local fire department attended, with reporting indicating the decision was taken to let the fire burn itself out rather than fight it directly. No injuries were reported. The owner, NextEra Energy, said it saw the turbine go offline immediately through round-the-clock monitoring and that only this one turbine out of 60 on the site was affected, with the rest of the wind farm continuing to generate.

A local report said the cause was believed to be a mechanical malfunction, but the owner said the exact cause remained under investigation and that it would work with the turbine manufacturer to identify the cause and replacement parts. The turbine was described as a 2.5 MW Clipper unit at a site that began operation in 2008.

1. Continuous remote monitoring of turbine fleets allows rapid detection of individual unit failures and limits response delays.
2. Nacelle fires at height may have to be left to burn out, so exclusion zones for falling blade and debris should be set early and held until the structure is cold.
3. Root cause investigations involving both the owner and the original equipment manufacturer help identify whether a fault is isolated or fleet wide.

desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2017/06/08/wind-turbine-fire-iow...