National Wind Watch: Wind Energy News » Campaigners call for two-mile wind farm buffer zones amid reports of rise in accidents

Scotland Against Spin (SAS), the independent alliance campaigning for reform of the Scottish Government’s wind energy policy, says that as more turbines are built, more accidents are occurring, which it claims pose a threat to public safety.

The Scottish Government said there was currently no “recommended minimum distance between onshore wind turbines and residential properties” and that health and safety around wind turbines was reserved to the UK Government.

SAS say turbines have been involved in hundreds of incidents since the first facilities were launched in the 1990s, and insist they should be at least two-miles from homes.

They say shards of blades have been documented travelling up to one mile after shearing off, with turbine fires presenting risks to nearby buildings from flying debris.

A spokesman said: “The two-mile buffer zone is both for public safety and also for health grounds. Constant exposure to turbine noise is recognised to cause sleeplessness, anxiety, stress and can cause all sorts of mental and physical health problems.

“This is conveniently overlooked both in planning assessments and by any regulations, and is a real problem.”

Last November, an 18.5m tall wind turbine caught fire near St Cyrus, Aberdeenshire. Locals reported seeing debris on fire flying off the turbine and getting caught in the wind, causing smaller fires in nearby fields.

Last July, a wind turbine between West Kilbride and Dalry, North Ayrshire, caught fire, sending out plumes of black smoke. In the same month, fire destroyed a wind turbine near Ardrossan.

Previous incidents have included a 140-turbine wind farm near Glasgow being temporarily shut down after a 14-tonne fibreglass blade broke off in windy conditions and landed at the base of its tower.

SAS has compiled a compendium of accident data.

A spokesman said: “As more turbines are built, more accidents occur.”

He added: “This general trend upward in accident numbers is predicted to continue to escalate unless the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) make some significant changes.”

SAS says the data show that blade failure is the most common accident associated with wind turbines, closely followed by fire. They say GCube, the largest provider of insurance to renewable energy schemes, has confirmed an average of 50 wind turbine fires a year but say this is a huge under estimate.

The spokesman added: “The biggest problem with turbine fires is that, because of the turbine height, the fire brigade can do little but watch it burn itself out.

“While this may be acceptable in reasonably still conditions, in a storm it means burning debris being scattered over a wide area.”

The Finnish Ministry of Health has called for a minimum distance of 2km from houses and in 2016 Bavaria passed laws requiring a minimum 2km distance between turbines and homes.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “There is no recommended minimum distance between onshore wind turbines and residential properties. Policy 11 of NPF4 (National Planning Framework]) makes clear that potential impacts on communities, nature and other receptors will be important considerations in the decision-making process.

“Additionally, the policy requires that project design and mitigation will demonstrate how impacts on communities and individual dwellings will be addressed.”