If you’ve been keeping up with my other posts you’ll know that my father Kent Britain is using money from shale oil that was discovered on his land in Texas to invest in wind power. In this process we have explored many options including the construction and production of industrial sized wind turbines. For anyone who hasn’t had the opportunity to see one of these massive structures in person, it can be hard to understand just how large they are!
The pictures really don’t do them justice. Just the mere act of transporting the blades and turbine alone can result in quite a traffic jam. The trucks they travel on only run at 35-40 MPH which is hard to deal with on interstates where pedestrians drive much faster. Recently there was quite a backup the freeway as shown below. One might consider just how much gas is being wasted as these massive structures are transported to their sites? It’s hard to say but the benefits of a clean energy future certainly help to offset the temporary inefficiency.
Just below you can see a photograph of a central hub being hauled to a wind farm construction site. To see a few shots of the wind turbine propellers curing in the Texas sun check out this other post here. So what you see below is the central hub that will be mounted on the mast, the mounting plate for the blades is positioned between the hub and the truck cab in this photo. This is what the blades will fit into when it is all finally assembled.
The blades are about 120 feet long each (which is longer than an average sized US home), and there are multiple blades to be attached to each turbine so the end result is quite massive. Industrial grade wind turbines are created in such large sizes due to the efficiency gains that can be achieved. A larger turbine doesn’t have to spin as fast as a small one in order to generate electricity, also by placing the turbine high above the ground there is often an increase in wind speeds.
Just west of Abilene, Texas there are over 1,100 of these massive wind turbines. This used to be West Texas crude country. The wind turbines, though, will still produce power as long as they are maintained, as compared to the oil rigs that were left behind several decades ago, left to rust across the landscape. That said, there are many island countries (such as Bonaire) which received wind turbines from sponsor countries many years ago which have not been maintained. Upon falling into disrepair the turbines have stopped and while the wind keeps blowing no energy is being captured even as tourists flock for some of the worlds best wind surfing there. Thankfully, in the case of Bonaire there are plans to build new turbines and make the island country carbon neutral in the coming years as support for wind power has grown.
It’s worth noting that the great Lone Star state now produces more electricity from wind than even California. Welcome to the Wild Windy West!
