When you see wind farms in person they look different than in children's books and television
8/28/2019
I drive past and through wind farms in Palm Springs on a regular basis. Here is what they look like. This picture does not even do the farms justice, they are a stark unavoidable sea of ugly spinners. They stand out much more than in this photo. I will try to get a better quality one but you get the idea. Imagine driving Route 99 through this whereas as it is today you would only see the Chevelon Butte like the hills here. You can see how they destroy views. If you look closely in the middle you can see what I think is a SODAR tower.
view more of these and how they look at night
In this next image we can see another view looking at a pile of trash from Interstate 10 service road. Notice the wind turbines in the distance about 1 mile to 2 miles out. This is looking at Palm Springs. This is what President Trump is talking about how they have destroyed the entrance to Palm Springs and these two pictures make them look nice by comparison to what you see in person.
Palm Springs itself is nice though you can see these things from various areas mostly on the northern end. People opposed them decades ago and more recently when newer taller ones were erected as seen in the image foreground above but since this land is in the riverbed and county the board of supervisord did what they felt was right probably for their portfolios too. Money is always a driving force for these things. Without you paying for them in your taxes they don't get built because investors know they are not profitable. Subsidies are used in many things like farming, but that is to help even things out. With wind energy it's always a loss. Any claims that they are profitable are smoke and mirror con games being played with accounting methods one of which is where they are guaranteed a certain high rate (your money) for the power generated even if the power gets thrown in this trash pile as seen in the photo so to speak. Energy from these things sometimes is not used by the grid!
Eventually all wind farms go past useful life and end up as trash adding more toxic wasted to the environment. They are not clean energy. The grid that these are attached to uses more fossil fuels to deal with the chaotic way these operate. The turbines are asynchronous generators that draw power from these sources TO GET THEM STARTED like your car! They do not just spin and make the world a beautiful place.
8/11/2019
There is an already complete wind project near Chevelon Butte. These start at about 1.5 to 2 miles from the road. It is off 377 looking to the south east just above the Twin Lakes above Heber-Overgaard. They would be much clearer to the eye in person. This gives a rough view of how Chevelon Butte Wind Farm could likely appear to many properties in Chevelon areas. This is not a good quality photo so keep in mind that these would be much clearer and easy to see in the daytime and would feature feature blinking red lights powered from fossil fuels all night long. The Chevelon Butte farm would also probably have many more visibile than this one. These are more spread out so this image is not the best representation but at least it shows the similar landscape and haze in the air. I will take a few images of the farms here in Palm Springs for another perspective.
There is another similar wind project called Juwi Wind off route 377 above Heber Overgaard south of Holbrook view project map here
This area was one of the most pristine night views anywhere in the United States with such vast vistas it was an amazing drive. Imagine seeing stars all the way out to the horizon! That's how it is out there. Now it's tainted once again with industry and the light pollution it always brings. Being that these stand as high as 755 feet to rotor blade tip it's like a skyscraper. Flashing red lights are just awful in such areas that have for billions of years been free of them. If you have an moving image showing these flashing at night and would like to present it here send it to me.
Thing is industry is not all bad and we can make some trade offs when there's greater benefit, it's just there's no real benefit with these things, it's basically a loss of energy rather than a gain when you count the energy used in building, maintaining, etc.. Energy is needed from you and me to build all of this. They are constantly drawing energy from the fossil fueled grid. They are 100% dependent on fossil fuels. They cannot work without hydraulic fluids, grid energy. They are not children's pinwheels in simplicity nor are they like old fashioned wind mills that would grind grain as seen in the European countryside, they are extremely complicated machines.
It should be also kept in mind that investors use their wealth only as they know as best they can that it will provide a great return. These massive wind projects rely on getting good return as the taxpayer provides them billions of dollars which they never get back. These don't lower electricity costs some point out they actually increase them.
In the case of the Chevelon Butte wind project as of today I have no confirmation that the property owners would have a bridge built for them over the Chevelon Canyon to save energy with easy access to Walmart in Winslow giving quick access to I-40 or any electricity wired in throughout the Chevelon Canyon Ranch, Chevelon Acres, Chevelon Retreat areas even though the farm would be tapping directly into high tension lines filled with electricity that have for decades had flowing power high above these areas.
With coal, nuclear, hydro, and natural gas, the energy we put in to harvest and utilize is minimal compared to what we get out of it including longer life spans. When it's certain groups profiting immensely at others expense including the poor as all of these farms depend on subsidies, and when they ruin pristine landscapes, and create horrible light pollution, that's just wrong and an inefficient use of public funds especially in 2019 where homelessness has soared at a time where jobs are plentiful. Really what we need to be doing is building more homes and along with that, infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure, meaning electric power where it's been desired for a long long time as has been the case for this unique area of the country.
We should not be closing down the coal industry in Arizona. Coal is highly efficient. Wind is chaotic and inefficient.
Also note, that paved road in the picture is made from tar which is a by product of the steel industry. The structures alone for wind require massive amounts of steel to be produced and that cannot be done with wind energy. Paved roads save energy. To drive these area on dirt roads uses more energy. Gas mileage and even electric vehicle driving on dirt roads is affected negatively. A paved road reduces friction. Friction uses energy. So anyone that might come out with a new movie trying to convince you now not of melting icebergs are going to bury us all in water, but rather that now we have to go back to dirt roads, buyer beware.
UPDATE: 11/11/2019
This view is at Interstate 10 in Palm Springs. I noticed one lone wind turbine spinning in the distance. It was using electricity not producing it. On TV they make these look like the Jolly White Energy Giant being a good friend and someone to lean on. They are more like a schitzo drug addicted friend that sucks your energy as the energy they produce is so chaotic it causes more standby generation to be used and also draw power to turn these ASYNCHRONOUS motors on every time they think the wind will start up, then it stops then it starts again they have to start the motors up again, then wind stops, so they just leave these things RUNNING using power from the grid at times when the wind is not blowing. This serves another purpose especially in this area, it presents the ILLUSION that they are all making energy as happy southern Californias leave Palm Springs to go back to their lives in other parts. These are movie sets in a way presenting a facade.
CLICK the above image to read more on how they are powered from the grid.
If you would like to see how HORRIBLE these look at night visit this link.
copyright 2019 Kenneth Wegorowski
