Wind Farm

A wind farm is pretty neat to visit.  First, did you know it’s windy?  This one is on the hills with a steady 20 mph wind.  They said it has gone as high as 120 mph!  It was very windy the day we visited making us wish we had jackets even though it was warm at the campground.  According to the tour guide, the rpm of the wind blades stays the same no matter the wind speed.

Cool tour.  You see a blade (7 tons per blade even with lightweight materials).  They are hollow so they echo when you yell into them.  Of course I’m much too mature to do that. Or someday I’ll be too mature.

They take you into the base of one of the towers.  Outside the sound is from the wind and the swoop-swoop of the blades.  Inside is a different hum from the turbine.  Quiet enough to still talk though.

The wind farm has 149 turbines.  Each one cost $3 million dollars and makes 1.8 MW (or so) of power.  The power costs $0.055/kWh (not bad compared to many industrial costs I’ve seen).  They have 22 technicians on staff to keep them running.  The total farm serves up to 70,000 houses.  Fascinating stop!