Article in Fond du Lac, WI area newspaper gives information on the wind power we see around the country. An area SE of Chicago has miles of them. The article referred to the wind towers near Calumet and Marshfield, WI.
Situated on leased land, they are capable of delivering power if wind speed gets up to 8 mph.; one unit is designed to deliver 1.4 megawatts at 30 mph.
Mounted on a 140 ton tower whose hub is 262 feet up in the air, the tips of the propellers reach to 400 feet above ground.
Their grid wiring cable is run 4 feet below the surface.
Farmers and others are warned of staying 15 feet from the towers; also blades can break off, whirling into the ground much farther distance away.
Blades shut down when wind speed reaches 50 mph. The three blades' running speed is computer-regulated at 14.4 revs per minute by changing the pitch of the propellers.
Project is mandated by the state, cost is high: 13 years are required to get return on initial investment even with fed and state tax credits. Mandating this project will likely support whatever the investment return turns out to be.
The hub on the tower rotates the propellers to catch the wind.
The units are expected to last 30 years before replacement; semi annual maintenance is required.
shoe shine boy
today's special is avocado.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TangoW,

I plan to use the power to powerup my shed and all its power tools one day a week.
at an average of 5-10 mph winds, It will take most of the week to charge my two 6 volt deep cell golf cart batteries.
AND, in the aftermath of the the Zombie Apocalypse, I will have a working powersource.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Grafton,

quote:

Originally posted by Grafton:
I plan to use the power to power up my shed and all its power tools one day a week.
at an average of 5-10 mph winds, It will take most of the week to charge my two 6 volt deep cell golf cart batteries.
AND, in the aftermath of the the Zombie Apocalypse, I will have a working power source.

Cheers, Grafton.
Any apocalypse worthy of the name should have a wind device of some kind, a PV panel on the shed and a bottle of Pepsi Cola
for the guy assigned to the projects. :>)

There are hundreds of the wind towers near Palm Springs California. I do not know much about the particulars, but they have been there many years.