Renewable energy has become a common target for misinformation, and wind turbines often end up at the center of it.
That's what happened with a Reddit post that shows a video of a field of turbines spinning in the wind before one suddenly bursts apart. Except it never happened. The clip was traced back to a 3D rendering artist, meaning the explosion was CGI and not an actual turbine malfunction.
Plenty of Redditors called out the fakery right away. One user wrote: "This is a fake video. Why post fake edited videos?" They later circled back, saying, "The video is real, but the exploding turbine part was computer-generated from what I've seen."
Still, others insisted it didn't matter because turbine failures do sometimes happen. "People are saying this is fake, and maybe it is, but there's no need for fake videos of this. This type of thing happens frequently. Despite the maintenance done on windmills, they fail on a regular basis, and when they do, it's usually catastrophic," one commenter argued.
But that claim doesn't add up.
There is no database that tracks wind turbine accidents, so figures are hard to pin down. Across the world, wind energy capacity has continued to increase, and the United States alone has more than 73,000 wind turbines generating clean energy. However, one analysis found an average of only 20 wind turbine fires reported annually from 2000 to 2024.
And as one commenter put it, "An exploding windmill is bad, but an oil spill that destroys an entire waterway is worse." While oil spills have decreased significantly, they are still environmentally damaging. In 2024, six large spills (greater than 700 tonnes) and four medium spills (7-700 tonnes) were reported globally. These spills cause extensive harm to marine ecosystems and coastal communities, specifically.
The bigger picture is this: Renewable energy projects overwhelmingly improve public health, cut pollution, and bring long-term economic benefits to communities. The occasional malfunction doesn't change the fact that wind and solar remain among the cleanest ways to power the grid.
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