Renewables are dangerous ?
Haw, haw......................................haw.
Now- battery technology is the weakness- so let's crack on and solve that. Meanwhile, there are many aspects of renewables to explore without resorting to elderly, failed and extremely dangerous fossils and nuclear.
All sources of power are dangerous.
Solar power plants take one of two forms: direct conversion and thermal conversion. Direct conversion is your typical home solar panel system. Thermal conversion are molten salt and water boiler systems.
Solar panels are dangerous. They are capable of producing voltages that are lethal, when combined into a home system. Such systems are typically roof mounted. You cannot walk on the panels. You will damage them and they are as slick as walking on sloped glass. The ballasting system is batteries, which make use of toxic chemistry and can catch fire easily, especially if mishandled in any way. Depending on the type of battery, this may involve either a class E or class D fire, necessitating discharging massive amounts of CO2 to put it out (for class E), or the use of special and expensive methods to put out class D fires (basically LOTS of sand will work, but that's not easily managed in an emergency). Putting water on either type of fire is a BAD idea.
Thermal conversion systems make use of mirrors to focus the Sun's rays on a container of molten salt (or in smaller systems, a water boiler). Salt melts at 1474 deg F. This stuff is dangerous to handle and is very corrosive. Water boilers are safer. They can only explode if their safety systems fail, or the boiler can be permanently damaged or destroyed if water is allowed to leak out of it.
Oil is dangerous. Drilling it has hazards to personnel, it can damage local environments temporarily if spilled, refinery plants are not pleasant places as they are filled with noise and hazardous vapors, transporting it can be hazardous, It reaches high temperatures when burned, and if a leak develops that is exposed to flame, can cause a difficult to stop wildfire (a class B fire, again, water is a BAD idea).
Natural gas can be dangerous. Like oil, it reaches high temperatures when it burns. It can also leak without much warning, or build up in some areas in the home or business causing an explosion. Wildfire with this stuff is a class C fire, which cannot be put out with water. Shutting off the gas flow is the best technique here (if you can), and the use of a dry chemical extinguishing system.
Hydroelectric power can be dangerous. These systems are typically dealing with large currents and high voltages (up to 800kv). The penstock feeding the generator house requires valves that operate under extremely high pressure hydraulics (about 3000psi). Leaks in these hydraulic systems are extremely dangerous. Further, the dam holds back a tremendous pressure against the headwaters. These reservoirs often contain trillions of gallons of water. That's all pressing on that dam, trying to break it. Heavy rains can overwhelm a dam and it's safety systems. Just such an emergency is taking place in China right now, and is threatening a catastrophic failure of the Three Gorges dam. Below this dam is the central industrial heart of China. The reservoir is large enough to wipe those cities off the face of the map. There is nothing the Chinese can do about the already severely damaged Three Gorges dam. It's still raining heavily upstream.
Wind power is dangerous. While those blades turning on the horizon look sedate and slow moving, their tips are actually moving quite fast. These propellers are joined only at the hub, like any propeller. Propellers MUST be balanced at all times. They can not be allowed to exceed a certain speed. Imbalanced blades or over speeding blades cause catastrophic failure, destroying the entire machine and throwing large debris as much as a mile away. The machines are susceptible to ice buildup (leaving the blades unbalanced) and dirt buildup (leaving the blades unbalanced). Thus, wind generators cannot operate in freezing conditions. If their governor systems fail, the propeller blades will follow, with disastrous results. Animals too are in danger, as hawks and eagles find the blades will generate lift for them. Circling in the path of the blades, however, sooner later whacks a bird, with fatal results. Gusting or severe winds can destroy these towers easily, as they are hollow (for service access) and the blades are a high drag up high (even if the blades are feathered). Collapsing towers are dangerous.
I believe that covers most of the renewable energy sources.
