3 ms·

There's a lot of Nimbyisam about onshore wind power going from the experience in the UK - though the UK has much less area than the USA.

DamnYuppie 9y ago
One issue you have with land based installations is there is a size limit on how big they can be. From what I have been told the limiting factor is how big the blades can be and be transported over our existing roads. The blades could be bigger but we couldn't physically transport them given our current infrastructure. Were as if they are build at a seaside port and put on a large freighter the size limitation is lessened.
- Qworg 9y ago
  This is very true - of the top 10 largest wind turbine designs in production, only one is land based (due to segmented blades): http://www.windpowermonthly.com/10-biggest-turbines http://www.windpowermonthly.com/10-biggest-turbines Note, the largest has blades of 80 meters, for rotor diameter of 164 meters. That's roughly a rotating 50 story building.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    I've seen that Enercon machine up close during construction and it is absolutely amazing.
toomuchtodo 9y ago
As always, "kinda". In "well to do" areas, for sure [1]. But it rural areas, farmers get a chunk of cash each year as a lease payment from turbines cited on their land. I have yet to meet a farmer who wasn't a fan of wind farms cited on their property, and even know of two cases where farmers fought each other to have a wind project developer put the project on their land. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Wind#Controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Wind#Controversy
- kasey_junk 9y ago
  Interesting, I don’t talk to many farmers, in fact I’d say I’ve talked to 2 in the last year about wind farms. Both had the opportunity to be apart of wind projects & declined. Largely due to similar responses everyone else had “shadow” & construction/maintenance disruption to their land.
  - toomuchtodo 9y ago
    I talk to a lot of farmers, most likely where the bias comes from.

DamnYuppie 9y ago

One issue you have with land based installations is there is a size limit on how big they can be. From what I have been told the limiting factor is how big the blades can be and be transported over our existing roads. The blades could be bigger but we couldn't physically transport them given our current infrastructure. Were as if they are build at a seaside port and put on a large freighter the size limitation is lessened.

Qworg 9y ago
This is very true - of the top 10 largest wind turbine designs in production, only one is land based (due to segmented blades): http://www.windpowermonthly.com/10-biggest-turbines http://www.windpowermonthly.com/10-biggest-turbines Note, the largest has blades of 80 meters, for rotor diameter of 164 meters. That's roughly a rotating 50 story building.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  I've seen that Enercon machine up close during construction and it is absolutely amazing.

toomuchtodo 9y ago

As always, "kinda". In "well to do" areas, for sure [1]. But it rural areas, farmers get a chunk of cash each year as a lease payment from turbines cited on their land. I have yet to meet a farmer who wasn't a fan of wind farms cited on their property, and even know of two cases where farmers fought each other to have a wind project developer put the project on their land. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Wind#Controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Wind#Controversy

kasey_junk 9y ago
Interesting, I don’t talk to many farmers, in fact I’d say I’ve talked to 2 in the last year about wind farms. Both had the opportunity to be apart of wind projects & declined. Largely due to similar responses everyone else had “shadow” & construction/maintenance disruption to their land.
- toomuchtodo 9y ago
  I talk to a lot of farmers, most likely where the bias comes from.