Feb 8, 2009: Wind Farm

[TheMercenary]

I have been looking at some home models for my future property.

http://www.mdpub.com/Wind_Turbine/index.html

[classicman]

bumper crop here.

Wind farm announced for Lake Erie, could produce 1,000 megawatts by 2020

Wind farms have started popping up around the states -- including one off Rehoboth Beach -- and if the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp has its way, twenty megawatts of power will be generated off the coast of Ohio beginning in late 2012. The direct drive wind turbines, each generating four megawatts of power, will be supplied and maintained by General Electric, who designed them especially for off-shore use.

Link



Offshore wind power park to energize Delaware homes

The entire state of Delaware won't be 100-percent wind-powered after Bluewater Wind constructs a $1.6 billion wind park just off its shore, but the state will be able to "light about 50,000 homes a year" for the duration of the 25-year contract. Said agreement was just nailed down between the aforesaid firm and Delmarva Power, and it hopes to start powering homes via wind by 2012. The offshore site will sit around 12 miles off Rehoboth Beach, with a number of turbines to be planted 90-feet into the sea floor and sport three blades apiece measuring 150-feet long. It's noted that vacationers and locals alike won't be able to notice the park from the beach except on a few remarkably clear days, but if their energy bills sink because of it, we don't really think they'll mind, anyway.

Link

Very cool. Aside from the obvious benefits, apparently there are certain species of fish that like to congregate around these farms as well. Some of which are great game fish.

[glatt]

And they don't leak freaking oil all over the coast.

[classicman]

I was counting that in the "obvious benefits" part - but yeh that too!

[HungLikeJesus]

I never really thought of Ohio as having a coast.

Also, this is a commonly misused term: "light about 50,000 homes a year."

[spudcon]

But, what about the naysayers who think we'll all have epileptic fits if we look at them?
There are windfarms sprouting up all around the hilltops here, and so far, no bird losses, no noise pollution and no epilepsy epidemics.
We do have a similar problem here that the Taxachusetts folks had. New York City and Long Island want electricity, but they want upstate to handle the generation and infrastructure, and to pay higher rates so they don't have to.

[classicman]

A few lost birds is a small price to pay. There will just be that many less to shit on cars and eat glatt's mulberries.
The only birds that these will take out are seagulls - Personally, I consider that another benefit.

[HungLikeJesus]

This was bugging me so I looked it up (dictionary.com): –noun
1.the land next to the sea; seashore: the rocky coast of Maine.

So, what counts as a sea?
–noun
1.the salt waters that cover the greater part of the earth's surface.
2.a division of these waters, of considerable extent, more or less definitely marked off by land boundaries: the North Sea.
3.one of the seven seas; ocean.
4.a large lake or landlocked body of water

Ah, Lake Erie certainly meets definition 4, so I was wrong. Ohio does have a coast.

[Shawnee123]

HLJ, have you ever been near Lake Erie? It looks like an ocean, and the winds might rival the sea.

:seafaringsmilie:

[Pie]

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

HLJ, have you ever been near Lake Erie? It looks like an ocean, and the winds might rival the sea.

:seafaringsmilie:

Aaaah, the "Mistake by the Lake". How I remember it. Bitterly.

Pie, Cleveland survivor, 1992-1996

[Brett's Honey]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

When I lived in a little village (in a little house) we saw bats every summer evening.

A friend of mine from Ohio once spoke of summer evenings when her sister and her would tie hot dog pieces onto a stick and swing them around up toward trees to catch bats. When she asked me if I enjoyed doing that as a child, she could tell by the look on my face that I had never heard of such a thing!

As for the windmills - while driving down Interstate 35 I've seen semi trucks hauling those windmill blades. I had no idea how HUGE they were until I saw that one blade covers the 53' semi flat-bed trailer all the way from the front to the back.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Brett's Honey

while driving down Interstate 35 I've seen semi trucks hauling those windmill blades. I had no idea how HUGE they were until I saw that one blade covers the 53' semi flat-bed trailer all the way from the front to the back.

I saw a ship going up the Hudson river with a bunch of those blades on it. they were enormous.

[Pie]

Nice!

[kerosene]

They make those just a couple of miles down the road from me.

[spudcon]

Yup, once enough of them are built, they morph into Tripods.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIlHoHiL4xE