![IMG_20140524_195347[1]](https://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/img_20140524_1953471.jpg?quality=83)
Citing an anonymous police source, the daily newspaper said the ring stole metal from wind farms in sparsely populated areas, where they had less chance of being caught.
“They cut the power to turn off the engine propeller motor,” the officer said, noting the thieves broke through the doors at the bottom of the turbines, before using the stairs to reach the engine which is located at the top – often as high as 40 metres off the ground. “By using bolt cutters and makeshift tools they then cut and ripped out the whole metal wiring, which is mostly made of copper,” he said.
The officer said a metal raid of a single wind turbine engine could amount to as much as one tonne of loot. One tonne of copper is estimated to be worth around 4,500 euros on the market.
…
According to Le Figaro, at least 20 such incidents have been recorded recently. Two successful raids and one foiled attempt were reported in March alone.
http://www.france24.com/en/20140528-france-metal-organised-thefts-wind-turbines-copper/
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
richardscourtney says:
May 28, 2014 at 11:44 pm
Actually I mentioned it at 10:20, but it was a fleeting, brief mention at the end of a paragraph of drivel so you likely skipped right by it, deservedly so.
When turbines are not turning they need auxiliary power to keep the turbines in tip top order, there are sensors, lights , lubrication, the turbines must move very , very slowly, cables get twisted so the ninety ton nacelle must turn to unwind .
At sea they rely on diesel generators which must be topped up frequently by fossil fuelled ship. Off the german coast there are wind farms not connected to the grid, some farms are using 23,000 litres of diesel to keep these turbines in operational order, daft but true.
Must be bird lovers.
23,000 litres per month.
richardscourtney
May 28, 2014 at 11:44 pm
Also, my understanding is that the wind, in and of itself, is never sufficient to begin rotating the huge mass of the blades, therefore the generator portion briefly acts as a motor (drawing current from the grid) to initiate the revolution of the blades when the wind first begins.
Interesting word: revolution. Skyrocket the electrical rates enough and we just might see one.
Best to you sir,
Tom
My Flickr photo “Whirligigs” showing rotating and static wind turbine blades in the massive San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/splinx/6996201104/
I never saw all the turbines in action simultaneously. Commonly, many were not operating for one reason or another, and in a recent visit, at least one had a long streak of dirty fluid running down the pylon.
~
Two wrongs still don’t make a right. These copper thieves do enormous damage to our infrastructure.
RESnape says:
May 28, 2014 at 11:57 pm
Most of those seem to me to be small items, normally associated with any industrial activity. The larger ones, such as dehumidification, are apparently not continuous. I wouldn’t call that a large amount of energy being required to operate in comparison to the industrial activities I’ve been associated with.
The Windmills of Your Mind
When I worked for a utility, there were occasional aluminum-thieves cutting out struts on isolated major transmission towers. The towers were repaired quickly & none ever fell, but could’ve been a disaster.
I urge the metal-thieves to leave transmission towers alone. OTOH, taking out pinwheels should improve grid-stability. And copper gets recycled.
I`m appalled that our continental cousins have already taken advantage of this wonderful recycling opportunity…..way ahead of we `rosbifs` across the channel.
“Britains windmill rustlers,where are you? Your country needs you!”
Give these guys a medal (made from recycled windmills)!
eish!
over here in Africa (for a long time already), people in need has recycled “stuff” out of necessity!
correct or not (not my call), as we speaking of peeps who face rising energy costs on a scale that that you may or may not comprehend, has been taking copper and overhead comms lines for many years now (as opposed to killing forests) – to feed some…
only upshot I see, is wide implementation of fibre and wireless. which, somehow, leaves me with the impression that the current regime steals from the poor?
best of luck to them also!
Chris4692:
re your post at May 29, 2014 at 6:53 am.
I apologise that I missed you making that point and also if I ‘stole your thunder’. It was not my intention. Sorry.
Richard
richardscourtney says:
May 29, 2014 at 9:47 am
No problem with me, you had a more complete explanation, and as I said, my comment was largely drivel and very skippable.
rogerknights says:
May 28, 2014 at 7:34 pm
At minimum, a law should be passed requiring salvage yards to photograph, fingerprint, and photocopy the ID of anyone selling scrap copper.
===================
Such laws don’t make the salvage yard operator care. He follows the law, then melts it down. Evidence gone.
If wind turbines were such a good idea you wouldn’t need environmentalists telling us they are a good idea. Big business knows a good thing that works and brings in a profit without help. ‘Free’ wind and huge profits, what’s not to like. I’m surprised they didn’t mushroom worldwide after July 1887, when Professor James Blyth created the world’s first electricity generating wind turbine.
This has been the biggest con ever perpetrated on homeowners. They are being milked by BIG wind and BIG solar for a crappy product.
What happens to wind power when the diesel for their standby generators thickens? They draw on the coal / gas powered grid? What a joke.
Gone with the wind, er, windings, something like that…
I’ve heard of cases where folks went off on vacation, only to return to a flooded, cold, powerless house, where thieves had relieved them of the wiring, plumbing and whatever other metal could be scarfed before the authorities (or anyone else) showed up. Don’t know if they were dim enough to try to steal gas lines (auditioning for the darwin awards in that case), but such thievery is more often than not its own, er, reward. A month or so ago a few “copper liberators” decided to free a substation with disastrous results…
Would be nice to see the turbines completely gone, but I suspect it’ll be just like in Altamont, a silent *cough* monument *cough* to the watermelon movement….
Hmm…upward mobility for those just entering the country/job market/whatever….sad…
At least somebody profited from those wind-thingees….
Standing tall.
Standing alone.
Standing alone, tall and in the wild West Texas wind, that does not blow all that much.
Standing beside the 3/4 ton Dodge Ram, on the run from the Border Patrol, the INS, and the Dallas Texas Sherriffs dept. over lots of copper wire theft charges. Viewing these lonely windmills 6 Mexican illegals on the hunt for better pickings and less viewers of the crime.
Tilting at the windmills for the copper seems the Don Quiote thing to do notwithstanding the needs of the EPA Inspector General who does not have enough staff or money to check out Mike Mann’s easy to read fraud hockysticks.
U.S. Goverment meeting itself out on the West Texas high plains.
A “two’fer” of bad ideas joined now for a time.
All power supplies need lock-up security. Having walked across rural France and Spain in sight of thousands of these whirlygigs I couldn’t help asking myself how that can be achieved with wind power. It can’t. But what does security matter when you have a planet to save, right?
I also couldn’t help asking other questions, as I grew accustomed to the sight of the things everywhere I turned, as well as their cabling (that cabling!).
I wondered how long these towers with their moving parts would last in the real world. I mean, you can make a miracle no-fat pan or fabric protector work just great in a TV commercial…but try using such products long term in real life!
I also wondered about replacement of old and busted stuff, and if Germany and others would be as keen to tip money into other people’s “renewables” as they were before la crise.
I’m told that to take this medieval junk away is a mere 15 percent of original cost. But that doesn’t include wiring and concrete bases. If you want all that to disappear, well, the fossil fuel and heavy equipment required doesn’t come cheap. Our Green Betters have made sure of that.
Strange creatures, these big wind turbines. I used to photograph them years ago when film was used in the camera. Every time I looked at a photo, they were all stopped.
Then we got digital imagery in the home camera, with ones like my present Nikon being able to take HD movies no less.
At the same time, technology advanced on the windmills, so that when I take a movie some of them are indeed shown to be turning around in the wind. Not always many, but some.
Ah, the wonders of the digital age.