Protect the Harvest:
Renewable energy is all the rage in today’s political and investment circles. Aimed toward meeting President Biden’s national goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the current frenzy of development is a source of great concern for many ranchers in southern Idaho. Massive swaths of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are being targeted to become wind farms. Much of that land includes ranchers’ grazing allotments.
While grazing allotments would be affected by the wind farms themselves, numerous farms, ranches, and rural residences would also be affected by the power lines that would need to be constructed to transmit the energy. The vast majority of the power produced would be transmitted out of state.
Snake River Plain Favored by Wind Industry
Idaho’s Snake River Plain is already home to over 500 wind turbines, most of which are between Hagerman and Mountain Home, with some south of Burley as well. According to the wind energy industry, the topography and weather patterns of Idaho’s Snake River Plain make it especially well-suited for wind farms. The area is also very favorable to agriculture; the towns and communities of the region have largely been built around farming and ranching.
The green, brown, and dark yellow on the graphic below illustrate the specific areas that are considered to be best for potential wind farm development.
New York Energy Industry Giant Pushing Development
There are a number of new projects currently being considered; some area residents say that the sheer number and scale of projects being proposed is simply overwhelming.
The three biggest projects are named Lava Ridge Wind, Salmon Falls Wind, and Taurus Wind. In differing stages of development, all three are being pursued by a group called Magic Valley Energy (MVE), which is a subsidiary of the behemoth New York private equity group, LS Power. Worth billions of dollars, LS Power was founded in 1990 and has since become one of the largest independent power and energy infrastructure developers in the United States. more here
I farted.
Does anybody know what the effect would be of a 300-gr .338 Lapua Magnum bullet hitting a wind turbine blade?
That’s gotta’ be one of those trial and error deals, Al.
My question is why are they so gay for vertical blades? A horizontal set up can turn from wind in any direction. etc.etc.
Those giant fan blades are 90’s tech.
@Burr — Maybe sticking with really long vertically oriented blades has something to do with conservation of angular momentum. I dunno.
Just seems off. Like the space shuttle booster rockets and fuel tank. yeah……it worked but we know now that sticking a space ship on the side of some rockets isn’t the way to go.
I seen the Chinese have been building big ass rotary columns. Less maintenance costs.
I will ask my oldest brother. he works at G.E. as an engineer and has actually gone up inside quite a few wind turbines.
Quit screwing around with this bullshit and put in some (many) nuclear plants.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nkxACJkqjM
Sorry, I mean Nuculah Reactuhs!
KNOCK IT JUST RIGHT WITH A TRACTOR, & YOU CAN PLAY WINDMILL DOMINOES! THEN FARMER FRED MAKES A MINT OFF THE SCRAP METAL HE FOUND LAYING ON HIS PROPERTY.
The vertical “egg beater” wind turbines are not self starting. You have to “spin them up” when the conditions are suitable.
What man can build, other men can bring down… then scrap it.
Kali Refugee – Petey Boi can give’em a fart start.
Nothing is more depressing than seeing acres of white windmills popping up across a beautiful western landscape.
I want to see wide open spaces not a putt putt golf course for giants.
All part of the plan.
Illustr8r
Exactly. Like the Altamont Pass in Livermore. One twirly thing after another. Right on highway 580 into the PIT. My affectionate name for the Silicon Valley. Miles and miles of it. Commissioned in 1981 as a wind farm. Subsidized up the wazoo. As many times as Ive driven passed that amusement park I’ve never seen more than a couple of those whirling dervishes actually whirl. They sure as hell aren’t generating anything electrical, which would mean they have no cash flow. I’m told all the wind farms are the same in that regard. Sure as hell won’t keep your new Tesla charged.
@Nuculah Reactuhs! April 6, 2022 at 10:12 pm
> Quit screwing around with this bullshit and put in some (many) nuclear plants.
But! But! If it’s safe(r)! And cheap(er). You’ll create a feedback loop! When it gets to be more expensive to send a bill, than to create the product!
What are you!? Some kinda communist!?
Illustr8r, I’ll have to remember that the next time I go up by the Ryegrass rest area on I 90 just East of Ellensburg. I see them more as something out of a Ray Harryhausen movie like Jason and the Argonauts, great big giant slow moving lumbering titans running down that barren sage brush covered hillside heading East towards the Columbia River. The wind turbines South of Spokane down by Rosalia on Hwy. 185 for some reason look less menacing than the ones on I 90.
Hwy 195, it’s late as I’m typing this and I’m half asleep.
They are not supposed to work efficiently or long-term. They are symbols of power, of the supremacy of the State over everything.
“Magic Valley Energy” – did they start off as a dildo manufacturer? Sounds about right, because they’re still screwing people.
That’s one heck of a big dildo. I wonder if the 50 foot woman in that 50’s cornball sci fi movie Attack of the 50 Foot Woman ever used one that big. And can you imagine all the laughter and snickering and guffawing by people who witnessed that big of a dildo on a the back of a very large heavy duty hauling semi carrying that thing down the road.