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There are definitely a number of installations where this could be useful. My favorite example is Antelope Valley in Southern CA, where the turbines stretch out

There are definitely a number of installations where this could be useful. My favorite example is Antelope Valley in Southern CA, where the turbines stretch out as far as the eye can see. The scale is absurd. 3288 turbines are there, according to https://eros.usgs.gov/media-gallery/earthshot/wind https://eros.usgs.gov/media-gallery/earthshot/wind Streetview: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0385954,-118.2567896,3a,75y,190.2h,69.75t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s-Pi5jy3-_p7D6PNfPszNPw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0385954,-118.2567896,3a,75y,...

rootusrootus 4y ago
That's interesting from the satellite view, seeing the various installations next to each other and various approaches to layout. Some lined up tight, some spaced out, some perfectly straight lines, some meandering a bit.
- koheripbal 4y ago
  Browsing around, it looks like several have had a serious failure events... One example, but it's easy to find more... https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0727844,-118.2627452,139m/data=!3m1!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0727844,-118.2627452,139m/da... Are they really so fragile? It looks like maybe 2-3% of them have fallen apart.
  - mgsouth 4y ago
    I live in the Valley; we get some huge winds and gusts around here, especially along the north slopes. Once I repaired a blown-down wooden fence out in the county for the Nth time, "really" fixing it by bracing with a 2x4 from the top to the ground behind it. Came back a few weeks later and the wind had jacked the whole panel out of the ground, pivoting on the brace's grounded end, pulling up fence posts buried three feet deep.
    - WalterBright 4y ago
      Is the fence solid? Perhaps make a slatted fence, so the wind can blow through it.
      - mgsouth 4y ago
        It's already slatted. TBH, the fence has never been properly repaired, due to materials on hand and a certain impatient father-in-law. The posts should be buried 4 ft deep and bedded in a 3-or-4 inch wide concrete base. But going to check on the place and fixing the fence is kind of a ritual now, a good excuse to get out to the country. Beautiful wide-open tranquility.
  - abathur 4y ago
    I don't know much about this, but: - I think they are fiberglass - IIRC they actually need to be locked beyond some safe maximum windspeed because the forces they're under are indeed sufficient to tear them apart. I guess if local conditions can change faster than they can be locked (or if the locking systems can fail?) with any frequency, then such damage might be common. - I do also wonder if something like a bird impact is common, and whether it's enough force to crack the fiberglass (or whether reverberations of the impact on an active turbine would cause trouble)?

rootusrootus 4y ago

That's interesting from the satellite view, seeing the various installations next to each other and various approaches to layout. Some lined up tight, some spaced out, some perfectly straight lines, some meandering a bit.

koheripbal 4y ago
Browsing around, it looks like several have had a serious failure events... One example, but it's easy to find more... https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0727844,-118.2627452,139m/data=!3m1!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0727844,-118.2627452,139m/da... Are they really so fragile? It looks like maybe 2-3% of them have fallen apart.
- mgsouth 4y ago
  I live in the Valley; we get some huge winds and gusts around here, especially along the north slopes. Once I repaired a blown-down wooden fence out in the county for the Nth time, "really" fixing it by bracing with a 2x4 from the top to the ground behind it. Came back a few weeks later and the wind had jacked the whole panel out of the ground, pivoting on the brace's grounded end, pulling up fence posts buried three feet deep.
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    Is the fence solid? Perhaps make a slatted fence, so the wind can blow through it.
    - mgsouth 4y ago
      It's already slatted. TBH, the fence has never been properly repaired, due to materials on hand and a certain impatient father-in-law. The posts should be buried 4 ft deep and bedded in a 3-or-4 inch wide concrete base. But going to check on the place and fixing the fence is kind of a ritual now, a good excuse to get out to the country. Beautiful wide-open tranquility.
- abathur 4y ago
  I don't know much about this, but: - I think they are fiberglass - IIRC they actually need to be locked beyond some safe maximum windspeed because the forces they're under are indeed sufficient to tear them apart. I guess if local conditions can change faster than they can be locked (or if the locking systems can fail?) with any frequency, then such damage might be common. - I do also wonder if something like a bird impact is common, and whether it's enough force to crack the fiberglass (or whether reverberations of the impact on an active turbine would cause trouble)?