I’ve seen wind turbine parts moving through central Texas probably destined for wind farms in west Texas. Given the choice of looking at a wind farm or looking through the haze produced by coal-fired power plants, I’ll take the wind farm. When I lived in west Texas where strong winds are the norm; it seemed ridiculous to burn nonrenewable fossil fuels when so much energy was blowing by in the wind. Wind will never be the primary source of energy, but it can be used to supplement an existing system.
I've never seen such large wind farms like this. Wish I could go here on my last day here on earth.
May 4, 2012 at 8:25 PM
I posted about the Spring Valley wind farm in March and had some request for updates. Here we go...
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This is what it looked like heading down from Sacramento Pass into Spring Valley on April 8. The towers had expanded greatly.
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The whole first row (of five rows) was completed. One wind mill is not quite in line. I'm sure there's a story behind that, and maybe some day I can find out. Ely High School took some field trips out to the wind farm in April, so I'm hoping that there will be a public field trip available to learn more about it.
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More construction scenes, taken from the highway.
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[Image] We still are seeing police escorts and oversize loads frequently. Apparently the wind has made the wind project about 25 days behind schedule. That means they will still be transporting parts for another three weeks. (I am hearing all this information second or third hand, so if someone knows better, please leave a comment!)
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Getting behind these oversize loads over the mountain passes means that it will take an extra half hour over each pass.
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Here is what Spring Valley looks like as of April 29. Over half of the wind mills are constructed, with many more partially up.
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These are the second and third rows of the wind turbines.
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Spring Valley sure looks a lot different.
I think I'll leave it at that.
posted by Desert Survivor at 7:23 AM on May 3, 2012
3 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formI’ve seen wind turbine parts moving through central Texas probably destined for wind farms in west Texas. Given the choice of looking at a wind farm or looking through the haze produced by coal-fired power plants, I’ll take the wind farm. When I lived in west Texas where strong winds are the norm; it seemed ridiculous to burn nonrenewable fossil fuels when so much energy was blowing by in the wind. Wind will never be the primary source of energy, but it can be used to supplement an existing system.
May 3, 2012 at 7:56 AM
Well, Spring Valley will never again seem as remote as it once was. But I agree with John's comment that they are a lot nicer to see than smog.
May 3, 2012 at 10:21 AM
I've never seen such large wind farms like this.
Wish I could go here on my last day here on earth.
May 4, 2012 at 8:25 PM