Sorry PCar I will not just accept it. Note this does not mean I don't accept it. It means I don't understand why it doesn't burn. I, and I think MartinA, were arguing against your explanation, which is clearly wrong.

Pcar. anthracite has less than 4% hydrogen, thus few C-H bonds. Above a certain temperature it readily burns and much of the energy release comes from breaking C-C bonds (an exothermic reaction). Can be done in a fireplace, not lab conditions. Graphite, which only has C-C bonds, can also be made to burn outside a lab and releases copious amounts of energy in the form of heat and light.

With respect to the turbine blades, something was burning.

The explanation of why carbon fibre in composites doesn't burn is possibly that the ignition temperature is higher than temperatures produced by burning the resins. But why the fibres have such high ignition points is a puzzle (see earlier posts to Stewgreen and golfCharlie).

Pcar - I think I remember burning both charcoal and coke - both pretty much pure carbon.

From the GCube - nothing to do with me!

Top 10 Causes for Turbine Failure

Turbine Fire Damage

Like any piece of complex machinery operating under stress, turbines can fail. They break. They develop faults. And without the right care and protection policy in place, the resultant claim can quickly spiral out of control.

For the owner and investor, this can lead to lost revenue and operational downtime; at worse, it means absorbing an increasingly daunting repair bill. We outline the top causes for turbine failure and explain what to do when things go wrong.

Despite a manufacturer’s best intention and many so-called bulletproof guarantees, wind turbines will continue to fail, fall over and break.

Let us put this list and discussion into some context. Currently, GCube has a portfolio over 30,000MW of wind turbines, located around the world, that it continues to safeguard and protect.

Out of that portfolio, in a typical year we expect to see anywhere between three and four total losses – typically caused by a fire – whereby the unit can no longer be repaired and is declared a total loss.

In these instances, the most common causes are internal component failure or a buildup of material in lubricants. This can start an escalating spiral of sequential events and a rather spectacular – if not expensive – mechanical fire.

In occasional circumstances, extreme weather is also responsible for failure – whereby the wind speed and the elements simply become too much for the engineering dynamics of the machine. Brakes fail, blades seize up and the chain of events continues to make things worse.

Then there are the gearbox and blade lightning strikes.

Again, these create a spectacular display but also a spectacularly large loss – with the resultant damage often requiring either extensive turbine down time and a complex replacement or repair.

Thankfully, the days of multiple tower collapses seem to be far and few at the moment – thanks in part to some significant improvement in structural engineering and design – although again, when they do fall, very little of the unit is salvageable and suitable for reuse.

So with that in mind, what are the top ten most common causes for turbine failure that we see at GCube?

Gearbox issuesBlade issuesMechanical BreakdownTurbine collapsePoor O+M arrangements

The GCube Top Ten Turbine Failure ranking has been developed based on internal data and wider industry analysis and assessment of the space, for further details, please feel free to contact our Claims team

TinyCO2 12:58 I think the majority of fires start within the nacelle, and are not due to lighning, but that does not mean that blades can't burn or ignite. Lightning can be a factor, despite measures intended to provide protection.

Bearing failure seems to be the major mechanical problem, which may lead to a fire. I do not know whether the progressive reduction in ability to generate is a mechanical or electrical issue.

I think it would be unrealistic to expect a small windturbine fitted to a yacht to work for 10 years non stop without failing.

stewgreen, yes!

More to the point, there is a fair amount of YouTube footage of wind turbines on fire. A lot in the UK do not appear to be working, even when the wind blows.

Do our learned MPs have access to windturbine failure data, and is it made available to Planning Committees? There is a lot of misinformation about windturbines, and it seems a lot of information missing, that the wind turbine industry do not want people to know about. Investors and insurers must have some information they can rely on?

stewgreen, I thought if you tipped petrol on a cat and ignited it, it went WOOF!

As many arsonists have found out, along with bonfire and barbecue enthusiasts, the vapour burns explosively, before the liquid ignites.