As many know, I was on a road trip for two weeks. On my return into California, I traveled a road I had done many many times – California Highway 58 through Tehachapi pass, one of the windiest areas of California, and loaded with wind turbines like you see in this photo from www.wind-works.org which seems to be taken during 2003. All the turbines seem to be spinning.
But, the reality I encounter when I drive through there is much different than what you see in the photo above. I often drive this road, but always wished I had a video camera with me to show how many turbines are inoperable since this doesn’t show up well in still photos. Unless you have a slow shutter speed to show “blade blur”, they all look inoperable.
But this day was different. I did have a video camera with me. Plus, the day I drove through, Tuesday, March 15th, 2011 was near perfect for wind turbines. There was a front coming in, and strong winds ahead of it.
Here’s the wind data from the ASOS at the Tehachapi airport during the time I drove through:
The wind data displayed above are measured at 1000′ lower elevation than the wind turbines on the top of the ridge, where the wind velocity will be higher.
And here is what I saw of the wind turbines along the ridge top, there were quite a few inoperable on this windy day. This video was taken right about 11AM PST:
There were many more inoperable turbines, but could not be filmed from a safe vantage point along the highway. This video was take from the semi-truck staging area near the agricultural inspection station.
My best guess from the video and others I saw that I could not film is that about one in four turbines were not operating.
The problem is maintenance. The location, while perfect for wind, is treacherous for work and support equipment. Even on a flat terrain, like in Texas (shown below) where I photographed these turbines, doing maintenance on gearboxes and generators high up on a post isn’t easy.
Imagine the complications on a mountain ridge for maintenance.
On the wind-works.org website “tour” section, they lament the condition of the Zond (Enron) wind power sites:
Wind Plant Maintenance Items to Note
Throughout the Tehachapi-Mojave area look for turbines without nose cones, turbines without nacelles (blown off and not replaced), oil leaking from blade-pitch seals, oil leaking from gearboxes, road cuts in steep terrain, erosion gullies, non-operating turbines, and “bone piles” of junk parts. One Zond bone pile of abandoned fiberglass blades is visible on the east side of Tehachapi-Willow Springs Rd. near Oak Creek Pass. (Kern County doesn’t permit on-ground disposal of fiberglass.) While touring wind farm sites look for blowing trash and litter (plastic bags, soft-drink cups, bottles, electrical connectors, scrap bits of metal, and so on). These all reflect management’s attention to maintenance and general housekeeping. At the better sites, you won’t see any of this.
Even on the valley floor, the smaller four turbines just west of the Tehachapi airport that greet visitors who drive in from Bakersfield had a problem, and these are on flat ground and accessible:
In Palm Springs, CA, another windy place, they have similar problems:
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Florida’s broken windmills: A California problem
The permit allowing windmills to go in didn’t say they could sit there broken. Palm Springs is getting tough. If windmills are going to exist in the city they must be operational. A city that has welcomed windmills since it was first approached about them in the early 1980’s is finding that many of those windmills are no longer working and it wants them fixed. The question is who’s responsible for fixing them? Florida Power and Light (FPL), the owner of the inoperable windmills, was allowed to install and operate local windmill farms under a conditional use permit (CUP) stipulating if the windmill does not run for six months, it’s declared a public nuisance and without a hearing, must be abated.
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Here’s a video showing the inside operations of a wind power facility in Washington State
And, the lack of maintenance problem is not just in California. In 2001, I visited Kamoa wind farm near Southpoint in the big island of Hawaii. The wind is so strong there, trees grow horizontal like this one:
As much as I was surprised by the horizontal trees, I was equally surprised to see dead wind turbines there. It was my first experience with a wind farm.
From this American Thinker article “Wind energy’s ghosts”:
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Built in 1985, at the end of the boom, Kamaoa soon suffered from lack of maintenance. In 1994, the site lease was purchased by Redwood City, CA-based Apollo Energy.
Cannibalizing parts from the original 37 turbines, Apollo personnel kept the declining facility going with outdated equipment. But even in a place where wind-shaped trees grow sideways, maintenance issues were overwhelming. By 2004 Kamaoa accounts began to show up on a Hawaii State Department of Finance list of unclaimed properties. In 2006, transmission was finally cut off by Hawaii Electric Company.
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Image from Waymarking.com
Again, like in California, Hawaii’s turbine problem is lack of maintenance.
But isn’t that the way it always has been with windmills?
It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same:
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UPDATE: It appears Idaho is getting set for putting a wind power moratorium in place:
State Lawmakers Look At Wind Energy Moratorium
Mar 18, 2011 6:16 p.m.
BONNEVILLE COUNTY, Idaho — Construction of wind turbines may be coming to a halt in Idaho.
State lawmakers are considering a bill that would prevent the construction of any new wind farm for the next two years.
Over the last year, dozens of new wind turbines have gone up on east bench just outside Idaho Falls, but many of the neighbors and their legislators want to put a temporary end to new construction.
When the legislature adopted the 2007 energy plan, it did not envision so many energy companies wanting to build wind farms in Idaho.
Bill sponsor Erik Simpson said he and both his Republican and Democratic colleagues agree they need to take a look at the long-term consequences.
“Local governments need some direction as to what should be included in some of their ordinances, recognizing some of the impacts that are out there on wind, and we need to find out what those impacts might be,” said State Affairs Committee member Tom Loertcher.
To conduct the study, the bill proposes a two-year moratorium on wind farm construction.
“It may be a problem mostly in eastern Idaho now, but it’s likely to be a problem in (other legislators’) communities as well unless we take this two year pause and study this a little more in depth,” Simpson said.
Wind power is not the cheapest way to produce energy, and lawmakers want to make sure their constituents don’t have to pay top rate.
“Utility rate payers are paying more for this unreliable intermittent energy source,” Simpson said.
Many are also concerned about the environment.
“A lot of these projects are going up in pristine wildlife areas,” Simpson said.
But not everyone agrees. Some local people like Bonneville County farmer Tory Talbot want to continue to see more turbines.
“The moratorium will basically limit businesses wanting to come into Idaho. Southeastern Idaho and southern Idaho has a huge wind energy potential,” Talbot said.
The State Affairs Committee plans to continue the debate on Monday when they hear from utility companies and energy companies.
They will then vote on whether they should move the bill to the House floor.
If the bill passes, any project already approved would be allowed to move forward.
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UPDATE2: The maintenance problem also extends to Germany:
From: jcwinnie.biz
“Gearboxes have been failing in wind turbines since the early 1990s. Barely a turbine make has escaped. The problem reached epidemic proportions with a massive series failure of gearboxes in NEG Micon machines. At the time, the NEG Micon brand was the most sold wind turbine in the world. The disaster brought the company to its knees ; It was taken over by Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, which still is challenged by gearbox and rotor failures.
As previously noted, a large number of gearboxes have had to be replaced “in large numbers.” Der Spiegel reports that the German Insurance Association is none too happy…
“In addition to generators and gearboxes, rotor blades also often display defects,” a report on the technical shortcomings of wind turbines claims. The insurance companies are complaining of problems ranging from those caused by improper storage to dangerous cracks and fractures… The frail turbines coming off the assembly lines at some manufacturers threaten to damage an industry that for years has been hailed as a wild success.
At Spiegel Online, Simone Kaiser and Michael relay a concern about installed wind turbines:
After the industry’s recent boom years, wind power providers and experts are now concerned. The facilities may not be as reliable and durable as producers claim. Indeed, with thousands of mishaps, breakdowns and accidents having been reported in recent years, the difficulties seem to be mounting. Gearboxes hiding inside the casings perched on top of the towering masts have short shelf lives, often crapping out before even five years is up. In some cases, fractures form along the rotors, or even in the foundation, after only limited operation. Short circuits or overheated propellers have been known to cause fires. All this despite manufacturers’ promises that the turbines would last at least 20 years.
No one commented on the oil in the dead fans. Each one has about 250 gallons of gear oil, hydraulic oil, brake oil and grease. Even small one have 90 gallon in just the gear box. Some farms have 10-15,000 gallons for maintainance.
It could be worse than mere inoperable Wind Turbines –
On August 16, 2010, between 3pm and 4pm, Texas had record electrical usage.
Texas has the largest collection of wind power installed of any state.
Yet Wind Power contributed only 1% of total supply.
For the third time this month, Texas’ main grid operator says the state hit a power usage record as high temperatures led to 64,805 megawatts of power usage between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.
….
Wind output averaged approximately 680 MW during the peak hour – or 1 percent of the total load. ERCOT currently has 9,317 MW of installed wind capacity, the highest of any state in the country.
From: http://www.ercot.com/news/press_releases/2010/nr-08-16-10
http://energyandenvironmentblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/08/texas-broke-electricity-demand.html
Part of that wind farm is visible in the 40 mi stretch on I-20 between Sweetwater and Abiline, TX. Miles and Miles of them. Thousands. They Yielding only 7% of installed wind capacity. Only 1 % of total load.
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/394389
Why maintain them when you can just build more with gov’t subsidies?
Believe it or not, I am an electrician. I have operated a bucket truck to fix pole lights up to 60 feet. And I have had to free-climb a 90 foot stadium pole light (without the proper equipment) to work on those lights. But at least I didn’t have to worry about a feather brake failing. It takes a special bucket truck to maintain the highlines around here averaging about 100 feet to 120 feet. And it takes a special breed of daredevil to handle that kind of height. I’ev known guys who are shaky on anything taller than an 8 foot ladder. The point is, there are a few guys that can work that high. And they don’t work for free. The safety considerations are different, too. Climbing a stadium pole light with pegs no wider than your shoes (that’s not an exaggeration) requires a mountain climbing rig on a zip-line with an ascender clip made for metal cable. (one way clip.)
It’s not for everyone. When I was on top of the stadium light, my helper tried to climb up there to help me. Well. those poles sway (they have to.) He got up about halfway and I could hear him. “Oh, hell no!” I knew what was happening, as I have been there, myself. I told him to immediately climb back down while he still could. It was July in Texas, at about 100 F. Sweating profusely, he could slip and fall. Or, lock up entirely and not be able to let go. And we would have had to call the fire department to rescue him. And then get me off the pole.
In addition, is the logistical problem of getting materials up, and then down, such structures. Have you ever been in even a 60′ bucket truck as a storm system is approaching and the gust front kicks up? How do you get down from a wind turbine that is twice the height. Who’s going to pay for the increased insurance for this line of work?
Our problem, too, is that we have inadquate storage of electricity. A superbattery would solve the problem. But that would involve harvesting other items from the environment, which the greenies wouldn’t like, even though it would result in decreased power generation as we get better at storing power.
So, even though I am an electrician and have worked some of the lower heights adequately, I would look at those turbines and ask, “What part of “Hell, no” do you not understand?” It’s one thing to create that “green” job. It’s another thing to find someone who can mentally handle it. I’ve been in a bucket truck when one of the outriggers, re-settled, sending me bouncing a few feet up and down. At 120 feet, that would be disastrous and more than likely, fatal.
When I first moved to the SF Bay Area in 87/88 the Altamont Pass Wind Farm was an impressive site. Now, it has a run down abandoned look with many of the windmills not turning. I find it a depressing sight.
The good folks over at The Resilient Earth blog had an article about similar wind turbine maintenance issues (and other cost overruns):
http://theresilientearth.com/?q=content/dying-breeze
From within the previously posted document
http://www.caithnesswindfarms.co.uk/fullaccidents.pdf
This is a large document,but mcst of your questions are answered within.
In regards to delivering carcass’s to Green Peace……I’m in…when should we start.
There are many more examples.
Moderator shorten as you see fit.
“Canadian wind turbine kills 10 birds and
bats a day”. The first study of the 86 wind
turbines found they killed 45 birds and 45
bats over a two-month period (May-June
2009). A second report (covering July-
December 2009) documented 602 bird and
1,270 bat fatalities, or about three bird kills
and seven bat kills a day. A third study (of
the farm’s first eight months of operation)
uncovered 1,962 bird and bat deaths, for a
daily average of eight a day. Thirty-three
different bird species were included in the
fatality report.
A recent study in Klickitat County
Waindicates 6,500 birds and 3,000 bats are
killed annually in the two states – although
the number of actual deaths may be much
higher as reported figures are based on
number of carcases found and reported.
“Portland school turns off wind turbine to
halt seabird slaughter”. A £20,000 6kW
wind turbine has been turned off after taking
the lives of at least 14 birds in six months.
The manufacturer stated one fatality per
year. Pupils reported to be upset when the
birds were killed at lunchtimes and
playtimes.
“Wind farm kills Taiwanese goats”. BBC
article reports over 400 goats have died
since 8 wind turbines were installed close to
their grazings. The report suggests that
they died of exhaustion from sleep
deprivation caused by turbine noise.
Wind Turbines to blame for bat deaths :
study” Sudden air pressure changes around
wind turbines is likely behind the large
numbers of migratory bats found dead in
southern Alberta, according to a new
University of Calgary study. The two-year
study found 90 per cent of the studied bats
found dead below turbines near Pincher
Creek suffered severe injuries to their
respiratory systems consistent with a
sudden drop in air pressure that occurs near
the turbine blades.
“Judith Gap Wind Farm taking toll on bats,
birds” An estimated 1,200 bats, most of
them probably just passing through
Montana, were killed after striking wind
turbines at the Judith Gap Wind Farm
between July 2006 and May 2007,
according to a post-construction bird and
bat survey. The number surprised
Invenergy, which owns the farm, as well as
government and private wildlife experts. “It’s
killing 1,200 bats a year and that’s a lot
more than anybody anticipated,” said Janet
Ellis of Montana Audubon, a bird
conservation group. …The study estimates
that 406 birds, or 4.52 birds per turbine,
were killed during the study period.
“Windmills increase raptor deaths; Eagles,
owls, migratory songbirds caught in blades”
Long before wind turbines sprouted on
Altamont Pass, it was home to the highest
density of golden eagles in the world and
their major breeding area in the United
States. Almost as soon as the first turbine
started rotating, the bird carcasses started
piling up: Golden eagles, burrowing owls,
red-tailed hawks, other raptors, western
meadowlarks and migrating songbirds. …On
Feb. 12, an interim report on raptor mortality
during 2005-2007 was released. Instead of
a reduction in raptor mortality, the study
found deaths had risen except for that
among golden eagles, which had fallen to
the sustainable level of 49 deaths per year.
Burrowing owl mortality suffered the
greatest increase – more than 300 percent –
and the overall raptor deaths almost
doubled.
“Green Power Is Black Hole For Rare
Eagles”. Australia’s biggest wind farm in
north-west Tasmania has become a “black
hole” for endangered wedge-tailed eagles.
The 62-tower Woolnorth farm has killed up
to 18 of the island’s endangered subspecies
of the wedge-tail in its giant rotor blades.
Despite their acute vision, the eagles are
failing to pick out turbine blades with tips
that can rotate at 300 kmh, according to Eric
Woehler, chairman of Birds Tasmania.
“Eagles evolved in a landscape without wind
farms,” Dr Woehler said. “They just don’t
see the blades. The researchers there are
finding that they are dying not only in the
downsweep, but in the upsweep of the
blades
A study of wind farms in West Virginia and
Pennsylvania estimates as many as 2,600
bats were killed by the whirling blades
during a six-week period during 2004.
Researchers estimate that between 13-
hundred and nearly two-thousand bats were
actually killed in that period at the
Mountaineer Wind Energy site in Tucker
County. The study estimates another 400 to
600 were killed at the Meyersdale Wind
Energy Center in Pennsylvania. The site has
20 wind towers. Between August First and
September 13th, 2004, researchers with the
Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative found
765 dead bats on the ground at the
Mountaineer site, which has 44 wind towers.
I’d imaginr that maintenance personnel don’t work for cheap, nor should they. It’s dangerous hard work. I often wonder about the operating lifetime. A conventional nuclear or coal power plant can easily have a lifetime of 40+ years. I think wind generators will have to be replaced probably 2 or 3 times in that period = $$$$$ and no cents (sense).
Ron from Tex
And they are getting even bigger. In Europe the offshore ones are up to 500 feet tall. And the North Sea is no friendly place either.
I’ve personally seen that windfarm in Hawaii that you have pictured. It was my first exposure to an actual windfarm (I live in Southeastern US, not many around here). I was shocked to see it almost completely inoperable in the face of those tradewinds. I figure if they can’t make it profitable there, where the wind is powerful and constant, and on an island where -everything- is more expensive than the mainland, it won’t work anywhere.
I predict within 5 years, there will be a world-wide effort to remove all those noisy, bird-killing monstrosities they call wind turbines. Cold fusion will have made them obsolete for the next million years–or more.
I love progress, especially when it cleans up the environment.
Great video Anthony,
I counted 14 stalled windmills from your video. 14 may not seem like a lot from the ugly and noisy landscape killer but it begs a few questions.
• what is the perceived ROEI for each installation
• what is the true cost of each installation
• what is the expected lifespan
• were the stalled windmills in an intended mode and if so how frequently are they taken offline
• given 7+ years of operation, how does the ROEI compare to other “green” approaches like geothermal in CA
I ran across a really sad statement on CNBC last Friday. Apparently, there isn’t any Sillicon (chips) being produced from Sillicon Valley because State of California politics are so foolish that they’ve driven every company to other States and other countries.
The tragic windmill farms appear to be yet another obvious example of the tragedy in Sacramento.
Just how bad do you think it’ll get before California taxpayers wake up?
I live in Washington and frequently, purposely drive the Columbia Gorge just to have my breath taken away with the magnificent views in every direction. Now, the most beautiful basalt cliffs and hilly fields with lava jutting through the grasses are strewn with hidious new bright white windmills by the hundreds if not thousands. Evening drives that once showed off the night sky now glitters with the flashing “enviro-wacko” red light district. The pastures, hillsides and ridges are scarred with access roads and new distribution towers.
at this rate of development, we’ll soon see Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams and what’sleft of Mt.St. Helens draped in these eyesores. Nothing is sacred.
Environmentalists decry the dams that have, in some cases, provided reliable, cheap power for decades and more while making the Columbia navigable and safe from treacherous flooding. I was recently advised that my electric bill would increase (I believe it was 6.8%) due to the necessity to buy “back-up power” an premium rates to make up for the unreliability of the wind. When that power is not used to suppliment wind farm output, cheaper resources (conventional power plants) need to be idled to make room for the “backup power”.
Did I meantion the raptors who choose the same wind blown ridges for their updrafts that keep them majestically soaring until they are whacked to the ground like so many flies?
Here’s hoping these eyesores reach “dinosaur” status quickly.
The biggest problem is how many you need.
A medium sized nat gas or coal plant creates 1,000 MW, almost continuously with very little downtime.
You would need 2,700 1.5MW turbines which produce about 25% of of that 1.5Mw annually to equal the output of a 1,000 MW gas plant. And of course they create little or no energy, so you still need the gas plant.
A 2 turbine nuclear plant near me ran 24/7 for over 365 day to produce 2400 MW all year. So you would need about 6,500 turbines to equal that output, and of course you would still need the nuclear plant.
What is super ridiculous is the theory that there will be this enormous smart grid connecting many tens of thousands of turbines in different regions with different wind conditions and this energy will be shuffled around, complete absurdity if you understand how great the energy needs of our society are.
And as stated above, the worst fact about the turbines is not the money or subsidies but the disgraceful environmental legacy they will leave us with in 30 years.
And when there is no wind it looks like this
Parque eólico La Muela 1 de 4
Parque eólico La Muela 2 de 4
This is what I drove through in 1988 (Altamont Pass), most of ’em were broken.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Pass_Wind_Farm
“The small turbines used at Altamont are dangerous to various raptors that hunt California Ground Squirrels in the area. 1300 raptors are killed annually, among them 70 golden eagles, which are federally protected; in total, 4700 birds are killed annually.[3]”
If you understand Spanish this is a very good video to watch. It’s about the energy use in Spain.
http://videos.libertaddigital.tv/2011-03-06/velocidad-petroleo-y-energia-socialista-en-debates-en-libertad-nPnuVtWQnh4.html
These companies must keep a log for each wind mill where output,down time and maintenance work is recorded. We just need a wiki leaks person to make it public. Then Willis or someone to run some statistics to see the real economic picture.
In 2006 at a cost of £100, 000 my local council erected two 6Kw wind turbines on top of a council office building “to raise awareness of renewable energy”.
One of the turbines broke down last March and has not been repaired, the reason it seems is that the turbines produce £2078 worth of power per annum but cost £6431 in maintenance per annum.
Hmmmm….. interesting to compare the UK installed wind power capacity with our actual output
View the graphs
Capacity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_the_United_Kingdom
Output
http://www.ref.org.uk/publications/217-low-wind-power-output-2010
“Variability over short time scales has been much discussed, and it is now well known that low wind conditions can prevail at times of peak load over very large areas. For example, at 17.30 on the 7th of December 2010, when the 4th highest United Kingdom load of 60,050 MW was recorded, the UK wind fleet of approximately 5,200 MW was producing about 300 MW (i.e. it had a Load Factor of 5.8%). One of the largest wind farms in the United Kingdom, the 322 MW Whitelee Wind Farm was producing approximately 5 MW (i.e. Load Factor 1.6%).
Load factor in other European countries at exactly this time was also low. The Irish wind fleet was recording a load factor of approximately 18% (261 MW/1,425 MW), Germany 3% (830MW/25,777 MW), and Denmark 4% (142 MW / 3,500 MW).4
Such figures confirm theoretical arguments that regardless of the size of the wind fleet the United Kingdom will never be able to reduce its conventional generation fleet below peak load plus a margin of approximately 10%.”
Nature yet again proving that she has the upper hand despite our politicians claims!
A few random thoughts:
I imagine performing maintenance on a wind turbine would be very difficult on a hot summer day. If you’re in Texas and it’s 100 deg F outside, imagine what the temperature would be inside one of those turbine towers…hot enough to fry a dog’s brain.
A future growth industry might be taking these eyesores down, performing site remediation and recycling the raw materials.
Isn’t it ironic that “green” wind power has already killed more birds than DDT ever did?
Good ideas and economically viable technologies do not require government subsidies. The CO2-AGW fraud provided the necessary incentive (i.e. “excuse”) for generous government subsidies to build these outlandish whirligigs. At the core of this wind power scam lays crony capitalism. NO ONE would invest in this exorbitantly expensive, grossly inefficient means to generate electricity if there hadn’t been boatloads of “free money from the government” (i.e. taxpayers) available to fund it. Aside from a few previous comments to the contrary, wind power is MUCH more expensive than power from almost any other source (other than solar). In a free market economy the technology would wither and die. This is a sure indication that is neither a “good idea” nor an economically viable technology.
Who makes money off of wind power? Certainly the manufacturers of wind turbines do. The developers reap huge rewards in the form of tax credits, start-up subsidies and production subsidies…all paid for by the taxpayer. The landowners who lease their land make a tidy fortune. The consumer takes in the shorts by being forced to pay for artificially expensive electricity plus higher taxes to pay for the subsidies.
Consider just the state of Texas. They have over 7,000 wind turbines. That’s a $7 billion dollar investment! The vested interests have every reason to protect their investment and their taxpayer subsidies. They are powerful enough to pressure (i.e. “buy off”) politicians to keep this scam afloat. Politicians, in exchange for campaign support, then dutifully vote to maintain the subsidies and now they’re pulling the same trick they did with ethanol. They want to mandate demand for an economically non-viable source of electricity by legislative fiat. That is, they force the consumers to buy something that’s unnecessarily expensive and then pay the taxes to subsidize it. Worse yet, there’s no good reason for wind power to even exist (i.e. the AGW issue is moot). Certain special interests make a LOT of money and the consumers and taxpayers foot the bill.
In many respects wind power functions almost exactly like ethanol. It’s an expensive solution to a non-problem. It distorts the market. It’s inefficient. It benefits a relatively (politically influential) few. It provides absolutely no ecological or environmental benefit. It artificially inflates costs. Taxpayers and consumers are forced (by legislation) to pay for it and subsidize it. Without government imposed mandates and subsidies both industries would collapse.
One final note. Just as ethanol production is ultimately limited by our need for food and a finite amount of arable land, wind power my ultimately be limited by the availability of neodymium (for generator magnets) and the availability of “airy” land.
We need Don Quichote back… Coincidentally SWR2 runs Saverio Mercadente’s opera “Don Chisciotte alle nozze de Gamaccio” … right now… And don’t let Sancho Pansa tell DQ the windmills of our time are not giants….
Robert M. Marshall says:
March 20, 2011 at 11:00 am
Hi Robert.
I live in Vancouver, Canada.
My first trip to the Columbia Gorge was on a fun summer ski trip to Mt Hood in 1975. I was in awe of the beautiful gorge and ridges. In 1980 I discovered small board windsurfing and over the years spent countless times windsurfing ,hiking and mountain biking the whole area. If there was ever a more beautiful place that gives peacefulness or high end adventure I haven’t found it yet. My memory’s of sailing big down winders deep into the desert, jumping and surfing the rolling waves and endlessly admiring the high cliffs and rolling ridges or mountain biking the ridges for 6 or 7 hours at a time always seeing new vistas of the wilderness, mount Hood or mnt Adam are the stuff of dreams. Now the blight of those windmills give me acid stomach every time. your right they took paradise and put up hells windmills. It’s a Eco crime that should have never passed the Gouge Commission,s mandate to preserve it!
****************************************************************************
Robert M. Marshall says:
March 20, 2011 at 11:00 am
I live in Washington and frequently, purposely drive the Columbia Gorge just to have my breath taken away with the magnificent views in every direction. Now, the most beautiful basalt cliffs and hilly fields with lava jutting through the grasses are strewn with hidious new bright white windmills by the hundreds if not thousands. Evening drives that once showed off the night sky now glitters with the flashing “enviro-wacko” red light district. The pastures, hillsides and ridges are scarred with access roads and new distribution towers.
Dave Springer says:
March 20, 2011 at 4:05 am
…No more than 30% of potential capacity is actually sold. So having 20% of the turbines down for periodic maintenance at any one time is not much of a problem and isn’t out-of-line compared with other types of electrical generation – less than 20% downtime is excellent for a nuclear reactor.
Dave, you sometimes spout the most incredible rubbish. A 1GW nuclear reactor does what it says on the tin, produces 1GW, less the 20% for downtime, that is 800MW. Windmills, with a 1GW nameplate capacity, do what windmills do, that is produce about 300MW, less the 20% for periodic maintenance, that is 240MW.
So according to you, 240MW from wind ‘isn’t out of line with’ 800MW from nuclear.
I have a bridge you might be interested in.