Menu
Volunteer firefighters voice concern about safety with solar farm
RUSSELLVILLE — As finances and land use have been weighed for and against the Cold Spring Solar Farm in Russell Township, volunteer firefighters are looking at how public safety figures into its implementation.
On their end, they have been troubled about not being consulted by county officials and, until last week, representation from the project on how emergency responders would tackle various potentials. The scale of responses, equipment and training figure into their worries.
Darrick Wiatt, now chief of the Russellville Volunteer Fire Department, indicated that he sent a message to the Putnam County Council prior to its approving the project’s tax abatement on Dec. 20. Apart from a response by one council member, the department was not contacted beforehand.
“Right now, there are a lot of unknowns,” Wiatt said during a discussion with the Banner Graphic, which also included Russellville Fire Capt. Bill Spiegel, Bainbridge Fire Chief Kevin Thorson and now-Russellville Fire Asst. Chief Mark Rossok.
Representatives from Tenaska and Arevon Energy, the joint entity overseeing the development and operation of the venture, have indicated an intent to work with first responders in the area moving forward. This is as the project is early in its planning stages.
Currently planned at approximately 1,800 acres with a potential for 200 megawatts, the mechanics involve power being transmitted to inverters. After being converted from direct current to alternating current, the power would then transfer to a generating station.
Anand Narayanan, Arevon’s vice president of asset management, detailed that power to different segments could be shut down, with another avenue being load break disconnects for the transformers. Direct current could also be cut at points where several solar strings come together.
“These are at a minimum three isolation points that you have,” Narayanan told the Banner Graphic about the system. He advised that the equipment and its makeup would be “fairly docile” in terms of fire safety.
The solar panels are composed of silicon, cadmium telluride and copper set in a metal frame with glass. Spiegel pointed out their integrity being compromised in fires, in which firefighters would utilize self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBAs) to prevent inhaling particulates.
“In our normal structural gear, is it safe for us to fight fires if something were to happen to a panel?” Spiegel pondered, also noting that Russellville VFD has only seven SCBAs. Each holds about 20-30 minutes of air depending on a firefighter’s exertion.
With the solar farm in the vicinity of populated areas, wind for firefighters is a major factor with both fire and hazmat situations. Wiatt provided that roughly 2,000 acres of woods along the southern portion could be vulnerable.
With a hypothetical response in which crews are toned out for burning equipment, Wiatt said Putnam County Dispatch would be notified to contact a representative of the project. They would monitor the fire and act if it began to spread toward the woodline or threaten a home.
“We have a stiff wind out of the northwest as the worst case for the woods, I’m calling every department including Crawfordsville to possibly Cloverdale,” Wiatt said about such a scenario as he could direct it now.
He added in requesting the Indianapolis Fire Department’s hazmat team. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management could then be involved, along with other agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and Homeland Security.
“We work off of a thought process of risk versus reward,” Wiatt emphasized. In what could be deemed a worst-case scenario, with a lack of personnel and life safety at stake, the last resort for him could be to let panels and equipment burn.
“That seems silly. We’re a bunch of firemen; we wanna put out fire,” Wiatt cautioned, “but I don’t want somebody to die.”
Narayanan suggested that power could be isolated depending on the size of a brush fire. With an electrical fire, he concurred with Wiatt on letting the equipment burn while preventing it from spreading.
“We go out there and got two panels burning clear at the end of this long run, the wind’s blowing in a bad direction, what’s our liability of not doing anything?” Rossok posited to this, however.
As to a fire-hazmat situation, the solar farm being located near the Heritage Environmental waste site is not an immediate concern. This is accounting for some distance that would separate the two properties.
Narayanan said firebreaks would be located within and around a fence at the site, as well as outside each segment. As far as birds nesting, he added that guard fences would be installed on top of electrical poles.
Also being contemplated is what would occur in other emergency events, from handling damaged panels after a wind event to a crash within the property. Included are medical runs and tasks like clearing downed trees from roadways nearby.
How to properly dispose of debris becomes another obstacle. Just being shocked by high voltage is an overhanging hazard that could impede any operation.
Wiatt and his partners accorded that the average response ranges from two to five firefighters between Russellville, Roachdale and Bainbridge VFDs, depending on outside factors them being volunteers. This becomes a critical issue with having needed manpower.
There is also the potential need to obtain new vehicle apparatuses to maximize a worst-case response. Thorson provided that a new 3,000-gallon tanker for Bainbridge VFD would cost $440,000, along with having a two-to-three-year lead time.
Rossok and Thorson put Russellville and Bainbridge VFDs’ annual operating budgets under $50,000, including money raised from fundraisers. The majority of this goes toward insurance and upkeep generally, including fuel, tires and other needs.
“It’s better for the fire departments to be proactive instead of reactive,” Thorson said, relating this to the budget constraints of all the northern townships and fire personnel. “The way we do prepare, we plan for the worst and hope for the best.”
As Wiatt and fellow firefighters see it, a response, whether fire-, hazmat- or medical-related, is not a matter of “if” but of “when.” The goal, in their purview, is to always be prepared for whatever and whenever.
This means training on the basics of solar power and mitigating hazards, and in turn developing strategies for a given situation. Ultimately, they are advocating that first responders need concrete information and guidance.
“It’s a lot more than just Russellville,” Spiegel summed up in the end about the consequences of a response. “It’s Bainbridge, it’s Roachdale and more.”