The Indirect Risk of Wind Turbines to Seveso Establishments

Currently, climate change and renewable energy are hot topics. Therefore, wind turbines are rapidly increasing in number. However, the government, the wind turbine sector and the safety experts must ask the question “Is it safe to install a wind turbine? Is it acceptable to do so at a certain locati...

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Main Authors: Karola Imbrechts, Bruno Reiners
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AIDIC Servizi S.r.l. 2025-06-01
Series:Chemical Engineering Transactions
Online Access:https://www.cetjournal.it/index.php/cet/article/view/15193
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author Karola Imbrechts
Bruno Reiners
author_facet Karola Imbrechts
Bruno Reiners
author_sort Karola Imbrechts
collection DOAJ
description Currently, climate change and renewable energy are hot topics. Therefore, wind turbines are rapidly increasing in number. However, the government, the wind turbine sector and the safety experts must ask the question “Is it safe to install a wind turbine? Is it acceptable to do so at a certain location?”, especially near Seveso establishments, which contain many dangerous substances. What if the wind turbine fails? What if a wind turbine blade is thrown away? What if the wind turbine tower or the nacelle fails? What happens then to the surrounding Seveso establishments, and the installations with dangerous substances? And what happens to the people in the vicinity? In other words, what is the risk posed by the wind turbine to its surroundings? These are questions that need to be answered before the government can grant the wind turbine permit. In Flanders, guidelines to calculate and assess the risk of wind turbines are published in collaboration with the wind turbine manufacturers and the Flemish certified experts in the context of the Seveso Directive (OMG, 2019b). A distinction is made between the direct and the indirect risk posed by the wind turbine. For the direct risk, the method of The Netherlands (DNV GL, 2014) was mainly followed, with a few adjustments. For the indirect risk, the government of Flanders developed a method in collaboration with the Flemish experts, as The Netherlands or any other country do not have an elaborated method for this. The latter is the focus point for this article.
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spelling doaj-art-80dc86b702854dfb99511d4d990fa5942025-08-20T03:29:53ZengAIDIC Servizi S.r.l.Chemical Engineering Transactions2283-92162025-06-01116The Indirect Risk of Wind Turbines to Seveso EstablishmentsKarola ImbrechtsBruno ReinersCurrently, climate change and renewable energy are hot topics. Therefore, wind turbines are rapidly increasing in number. However, the government, the wind turbine sector and the safety experts must ask the question “Is it safe to install a wind turbine? Is it acceptable to do so at a certain location?”, especially near Seveso establishments, which contain many dangerous substances. What if the wind turbine fails? What if a wind turbine blade is thrown away? What if the wind turbine tower or the nacelle fails? What happens then to the surrounding Seveso establishments, and the installations with dangerous substances? And what happens to the people in the vicinity? In other words, what is the risk posed by the wind turbine to its surroundings? These are questions that need to be answered before the government can grant the wind turbine permit. In Flanders, guidelines to calculate and assess the risk of wind turbines are published in collaboration with the wind turbine manufacturers and the Flemish certified experts in the context of the Seveso Directive (OMG, 2019b). A distinction is made between the direct and the indirect risk posed by the wind turbine. For the direct risk, the method of The Netherlands (DNV GL, 2014) was mainly followed, with a few adjustments. For the indirect risk, the government of Flanders developed a method in collaboration with the Flemish experts, as The Netherlands or any other country do not have an elaborated method for this. The latter is the focus point for this article.https://www.cetjournal.it/index.php/cet/article/view/15193
spellingShingle Karola Imbrechts
Bruno Reiners
The Indirect Risk of Wind Turbines to Seveso Establishments
Chemical Engineering Transactions
title The Indirect Risk of Wind Turbines to Seveso Establishments
title_full The Indirect Risk of Wind Turbines to Seveso Establishments
title_fullStr The Indirect Risk of Wind Turbines to Seveso Establishments
title_full_unstemmed The Indirect Risk of Wind Turbines to Seveso Establishments
title_short The Indirect Risk of Wind Turbines to Seveso Establishments
title_sort indirect risk of wind turbines to seveso establishments
url https://www.cetjournal.it/index.php/cet/article/view/15193
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