environmental statement - Rotherham's Online Application for ...

circumstances, of the whole blade. Many blades are composite
structures with no bolts or other separate components. Blade failure is
therefore most unlikely. Even for blades with separate control surfaces
on or comprising the tips of the blade, separation is most unlikely.
The minimum desirable distance between wind turbines and occupied
buildings calculated on the basis of expected noise levels and visual
impact will often be greater than that necessary to meet safety
requirements. Fall over distance (i.e. the height of the turbine to the tip
of the blade) plus 10% is often used as a safe minimum separation
distance.‟
16.11 The turbine specifications for the Penny Hill Wind Farm will be designed
and manufactured to meet international engineering design and
manufacturing safety standards including the British Standard BS EN
61400 – 1:1995 “Wind turbine generator systems – safety requirements”
and the European Standard EN 50308: 2004 “Wind turbines. Protective
measures. Requirements for design, operation and maintenance”.
16.12 The proposed wind farm will comply with all relevant UK legislation (e.g.
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974), as well as specific industry guidance
such as the British Wind Energy Association‟s “Guidelines for Health and
Safety in the Wind Energy Industry” (October 2008). The latter guidelines
aim to safeguard the health and safety of those working in the industry and
also the general public from project design through construction, operation
and decommissioning.
16.13 The public are sometimes concerned about the possibility of a turbine
shedding a part, possibly a whole blade, and ice throw/shear. However,
the public‟s perception of the risk from a catastrophic failure of the turbine
structure is not borne out by the evidence of such events. There have
been very few instances of this type of accident worldwide and there are
no known cases where injury has resulted. Wind turbines have an
excellent safety record. At the end of 2007 the Global Wind Energy
Council (GWEC) estimated that onshore wind farms provided 94,112MW
of installed capacity 17 and the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA)
calculate that there are currently 2355 operational onshore turbines in the
UK 18 with no record of a member of the public being hurt due to ice, blade
throw or tower collapse.
16.14 The public are also sometimes concerned about the possibility of „ice
throw‟ and „ice shear‟, because in certain conditions ice may form on the
blades. „Ice throw‟ is the phenomenon of ice being thrown from the blades
due to the blade movement, whereas „ice shear‟ is the phenomenon of ice
17 GWEC Statistics 2007 [Available online at:
http://www.ewea.org/fileadmin/ewea_documents/documents/statistics/gwec/stats2007.pdf]
18 British Wind Energy Association website [http://www.bwea.com/ukwed/index.asp (accessed
22.1.09)]
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Penny Hill Wind Farm
Environmental Statement