But a small group of vocal anti-wind energy activists work day and night to assert that wind energy is unsafe. They share blogs and homemade movies online of occasions of wind turbine accidents and in some cases, photoshopped wind turbine destruction. While real risks go ignored on social media, anti-wind energy activists mistakenly portray wind turbines as more dangerous than in reality. How is the average person meant to separate fact from fiction?
Here at WINDPOWER, project engineer Marion Hill with DNV GL provide up-to-date research regarding the risks associated with wind turbines, including ice throw and blade failure. Ms. Hill's conclusions showed that the risk to the general population from wind turbine accidents are extremely low - lower than other well known risks like being struck by lightning (1 in 1.2 million) or a tornado (1 in 100,000), and certainly lower than a fatal car accident (1 in 10,000 people per year). The risk associated with being struck by a large piece of ice falling from a wind turbine or from a wind turbine blade failure is on the order of 1 in 10,000,000; however, even this risk is relative to distance from a wind turbine. Beyond 250-300 meters (800-1000 feet) from a wind turbine's base, the danger posed by a wind turbine appears to be virtually non-existent.
As anti-wind energy activists push for radical regulations that effectively ban wind farms, Ms. Hill's research is vitally important. Specifically, wind farm opponents have begun demanding "setbacks" for wind turbines, sometimes as far away as 1.5 miles. However, the overwhelming evidence is showing that the risk to the general public from wind turbines is extremely low (or virtually non-existent) beyond even 1,000 feet. Underscoring this point, no member of the general public has been killed by a wind turbine.
Wind Turbines can Reduce Overall Risk Unlike some other risks, wind turbines can actually reduce overall risk. By being relatively low-risk development, new land lease payments and taxes from wind farms can go towards reducing other high-risk activities. Wind turbines are frequently placed on agricultural land. Farming is one of the most hazardous industries in the country, with hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries every year. If landowners use wind turbine land lease payments so they don't have to farm as much, or if they invest in farm safety equipment (like Roll-Over Protective Structures on tractors), those landowners are likely to reduce their overall health and safety risks.
Communities that receive additional property taxes from wind farms (sometimes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually) can invest in safer roads, better fire departments and equipment or community health centers. Dilapidated rural roads are 3x more dangerous than all other roads in the country. And the South has some of the highest rural road fatality rates in the country.
Certainly some risk exists with wind turbines; however, the risk from wind farms appears to be less than being struck by lightning and certainly less dangerous than fossil fuels. Still, wind developers have a responsibility to ensure projects are built to meet or exceed safety standards and to benefit the local communities.