Electric charging windmill burned

[Smallpatch]

First time by there wife took picture of it burning.  But could never get it posted here. This time by we got this picture.

 

The ones along the road are easy to see the oil or lube of some kind leaking out under the head house and turns the metal tube the head house sits on black. Then those large cranes would take all the stuff off the pipe tubes let all the parts to the ground and do the repairs before they burned up. The last year or so the cranes have disappeared and it seems like they just let them go like the one showing and let the insurance bare the cost.

  I wonder if this has anything to do with all insurances raising rates.....Naw

  They sure don't seem to be that big once up that far in the sky.

  

But hey , the farmers or ranchers that has leased their land gets anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 a year for each unit on their property.. There are two groups of windmills we drive by going from Breckenridge to Abilene. One  group has 350 and have never heard how many the other has but looks about the same amount....Been there about 15 or more years. I wonder if the land owners ever messes with cattle anymore. They also use to pay to keep the mesquites off the grazing pastures. Now,,,,,, that would seem like a waste of money...

[Fred Wilson]

Only one failure by fire in all that time?  Sounds like a good average especially knowing how many there are in that windmill farm. UR right, why mess with cattle (unless they can harvest all the methane coming out of the cows  )

 

[Cliff]

If ya want to know more about turbine failures

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjHgez_7rnYAhXBSiYKHeZ1Av4QFgg5MAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fiopscience.iop.org%2Farticle%2F10.1088%2F1742-6596%2F753%2F7%2F072027%2Fpdf&usg=AOvVaw0nl1B9-7GRSFjrzPftaO-i

 

[Grandpadave52]

Thanks for the picture Patch...I'll be C&P that and provide it to our local "team."

Currently in the "battle of our lives" with the County Commissioners here to STOP them from coming into our county...

[Smallpatch]

Oh no Fred, lots of fires . I didn't mean to imply there wasn't many fires. Way too many fires and it seems like the big bearings might be the causes. The only other large bearings are under the head house to keep everything facing the wind but they sure don't get that hot.

  We use to see two sets of large cranes working every time we went through that one field. But those disappeared about 2 years or so ago.

[Smallpatch]

Wow Dave why would they want to keep them out of your area. Or would the answer be like the east coast trying to keep the oil wells from drilling along the coast because it would spoil their view of the ocean???

[Grandpadave52]

2 minutes ago, Smallpatch said:

Wow Dave why would they want to keep them out of your area. Or would the answer be like the east coast trying to keep the oil wells from drilling along the coast because it would spoil their view of the ocean???

For fear of becoming to political here Patch, I won't go into much...but besides numerous documented health concerns, risks & alarms when in close proximity to properties/residences even with reasonable set-back allowances, The fact that rural property resale values can decline by as much as 50% while the assessed valuation remains constant,  the fact that w/o Federal subsidies the industry is not self-sustaining/supporting, the fact that 90% of the power generated when operating will be supplied to a grid not benefiting anyone locally, any future decommissioning falls on the county tax payers, not the WF companies and today's decision impacts every future generation their right to view and enjoy an unobstructed sky w/o hundreds of blinking red lights at night and....sorry I've crossed the line....

 

The rural landscape and terrain here is much different than the Plains States and I assume open plain areas of Texas...smaller fields dotted with smaller residences of folks that just want to live in the country...

[Smallpatch]

Its a wonder they ever let cars in some of your states back there. I bet when a tire blows out it just scares the hell out of everybody!

  Well anyway there are more sides to a story than there are actually sides... Okay, I hear you man!!!

[Gene Howe]

Dave, we fought really hard to keep them out of our county for all the reasons you cited. We did quite a bit of research on their manufacturing, transportation and installation costs in both money and energy. There's no way in Hades that those costs can be recouped in the 25 years they predict as useful life. 

We did succeed in getting a 1/4 mile buffer between a wind mill and any property zoned for possible residences. We think that reduced their numbers by around 30% of their original plan. 

In the end, they still managed to get around 50 installed. 

[Grandpadave52]

30 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

We did succeed in getting a 1/4 mile buffer between a wind mill and any property zoned for possible residences. We think that reduced their numbers by around 30% of their original plan. 

Thanks Gene...we're pushing the Commissioners hard in that area right now...supposed to be on the meeting agenda Jan 22...current set-back ordinance is less than a 1/4 mile and is from any building or residence but not the property line.

With that stipulation, if a mill was erected, a person then could be prohibited from building any future structure on their own property. We've cited a recent ordinance enacted in another Indiana county that has withstood court challenges by WF companies increasing both the set-back requirements to 2200' from any property boundary and lowering the decibel level to 30dba to any nearest structure.

 

One commissioner indirectly owns a few thousand acres w/i the county via a family trust and another farms several hundred acres w/i one of the planned areas. Neither will recuse themselves from any decision on this. I've known all 3 commissioners for years. One used to drive by my house frequently...since I placed a No Windmill Sign sign near the road, never see him drive by any more..apparently prefers to drive way out of his way to get to his house 1/2 mile up the road.

 

Becoming involved in this the past several weeks was one reason I was absent from here for a few weeks.

[Cal]

I have driven by a few wind farms.  Did not know there was such controversy surrounding them...

Cal

[Grandpadave52]

There are a couple w/i 50 miles +/- of here...one to the North stretches from Western Illinois nearly 1/2 way across North Central Indiana... Probably over 2000 now...maybe more...another infestation about 1/2 way between me & Ron D. guessing between 300-400 now...I know once those went up where I always maintained a cell signal before, that ended.

[Gene Howe]

Good luck, Dave. Sounds like the fix is in.

[Smallpatch]

Dave you aught to check your battery if you signal went out.  

 

The blades are turned by the wind so almost no sound when

running at the speed of the wind.

 

We have never paid attention to the RED lights as you refer.

 

I have suggested to wifie, if they would put a light at the end 

 

 of each blade I do believe they could charge for the entertainment...

 

We saw a hawk sitting on a head house here while back...I'm sure he

was not at the meeting the environmentalist had described would happen 

if these end of the world contraptions were allowed to be built.

 

 

I know every one has their own likes and dislikes. That's how this country

evolved...I remember back when seat belts were the worse thing to

 have ever happened to the human race!

 

If people were scared when driving along side cars on the highway while they

texted and talked on their phones, I wonder how they feel now that those people

are legally smoking their joints  and texting because all these states wanted

the revenue.....

Another thought...... it might not be so bad being old....

[Grandpadave52]

32 minutes ago, Smallpatch said:

Another thought...... it might not be so bad being old....

This I can agree with you on Patch...oh and those who are smoking  pot while driving and texting...that scares me a bit 'er ALOT.

Edit add: the "old thing has some perks I'm learning...free drinks at Wendy's and I got free admission to an away swim meet last night, plus I get my All-season Home Sports Pass free now

"Course if I had my way, we'd still be changing points, distributor caps, rotors & spark plugs every 15k or 20k miles...at least you could do that with some simple tools.

[HARO50]

34 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Course if I had my way, we'd still be changing points, distributor caps, rotors & spark plugs every 15k or 20k miles...at least you could do that with some simple tools.

Yup! I used to work on my own cars. Can't do that any more..... don't have a computer degree! My first car was an old '66 Studebaker. Broke down frequently! With a set of wrenches, a pair of pliers, a roll of mechanic's wire and a clothes hanger, I could get it going every time!

John

[Gene Howe]

A major perk of old age is retirement. Time pressure evaporates. Clocks become irrelevant. Calendars are only useful for dr.s appt.s. Coffee breaks are whenever. So are naps.

Grandkids are another big perk. They are useful to remind us of our age.  

 

 

[Grandpadave52]

14 minutes ago, HARO50 said:

a roll of mechanic's wire and a clothes hanger,

Geez you were of the privileged class...we only had baling wire and twine.plus the nails we hung our clothes on Of course duct tape had not yet been released for peasant use.

 

4 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

So are naps.

Grandkids are another big perk. They are useful to remind us of our age.  

Yes and also why we need the naps.

[Roly]

Patch one thing interesting about the red lights at night is that they all blink in sequence.   In Kansas it is quite the experience for the first time as you can see them for miles.    I was told they all flash at the same time to keep pilots from being  disorientated .    Roly

[Smallpatch]

Grandpawdave as we were driving through the wind mills this morning my wife ask me to convey something to you...She said it could be in Texas which might make things different or else something else.....Its 55 miles from from our house to Abilene, Tx and the wind mill farms are in between....Use to before they put the windmills in she could not ever get a signal for her phone, ever. They never had enough customers to warrant installing any towers....Then the windmills were put in and being computer controlled they had to erect some towers. Now driving through the middle of those towers she has full signals all the way through....

And Roly, here the red lights blink independently of each other and being so high up are barely visible. They are nothing like a red light coming up behind a person at night. No where near the same...