Update: I’ve been told by the company which assembles these big wind turbines that they don’t want people approaching the work sites, even if nobody is there working, for safety reasons. While the roads to these sites weren’t marked with any warning signs when I was there, they are not for public access. If you want a look at these sites, you must stay on the public roadway and do so from there.
My two year old wanted to go see the big windmills this weekend, so off we went. I never need much urging to hop in the truck and go careening off into the wilderness. Once he saw how big these things are in person, and heard how loud they are, he decided he didn’t need to get very close. But there was a surprise awaiting us, one which turned me into a little boy for a little while.
There are more wind turbines under construction out there, and it’s a pretty cool process. They assemble the tower, put the turbine building atop it, and bolt the blades to their hub before lifting the whole rotor assembly up in the air. That means you can see how big those things are in person. Very.
I looked around to make sure that there were no signs forbidding a closer look, then followed a section line road to get a peek. A few of the turbines’ blade assemblies were perched on the ground, weighted to keep them from being damaged in the wind. We didn’t go close enough to touch anything, just taking in the sheer size of everything from a short distance. In some cases, I stood on the top of the truck to take the photos, which PJ found amusing.
How’s this for a sense of perspective? I didn’t whip out a tape measure or anything, but I read somewhere that 80 feet is a typical length for one of these blades. With a radius like that, imagine how fast the tips are travelling as the blades rotate!
Here is a set of blades ready to be installed. Note the wild curvature to them. They’re very big and made of lightweight material. They’re so long that the roads out here have to be upgraded to accomodate the wide, sweeping turns of the trucks hauling them in. They travel one to a truck.
How would you like to be the guy who has to spin on and torque the nuts onto all those bolts? There’s a similar ring of them on the hub, which attach it to the turbine atop the wind generator structure. These have a very large diameter at the bottom; in fact, a short person could probably stand up inside that diameter. You know who you are.
It would be really fun to watch them lift one of these assemblies into place! It can’t be done on a windy day, which means that they’re going to have to be ready to go at the drop of the hat. Breaks in the wind don’t come very often around here.
Little boy, big world. I love taking my boys to go see things: airplanes, trains, big construction equipment, boats, cars, you name it. I’m going to help them to see all the cool stuff I write about here on the ol’ Blog, and in doing so I get to share in the joy of a little boy taking it all in. Boys, Daddy, camera, and world. What a combination.
