Wind Turbine Size and Height Cause Difficulties

An increase in commercial wind turbine size brings bigger challenges in transporting these monsters. It's sort of a catch 22 situation, as the wider the wind turbine blades, the more energy the turbine produces. Additionally, taller wind turbines are better equipped to take advantage of the stronger winds at higher altitudes. Negative environmental impacts of these jolly green giants grow with their size.

Wind Turbine Size And Financial Costs

Some of the biggest commercial wind turbines now reach over 500 feet tall with blades over 300 feet wide. You may have seen these wind turbine blades lurching down an interstate on top of oversized rig beds. How about attempting to navigate a corner in a small town? Sometimes police direct traffic just so these beacons of green energy can get to their destination. A 2009 New York Times article says John Dunlop of the American Wind Energy Association stated transporting one wind turbine costs "around $100,000 to $150,000".

Protesting Wind Turbine Transport

Moving blades and towers causes traffic disruption, damages roads, and poses unique challenges in obtaining proper permits for crossing country and state lines. These potential disruptions are partly responsible for the June 2010 protests in the town of Welshpool. It seems some people don't want such disruptions in their quiet towns. Who gets stuck with the bill when the roads crack from the massive wind turbine parade?

Wind Turbine Size and Environmental Costs

Although transportation problems are apparent and noted in some circles, the industry and government seems to conveniently side step the issue. A U.S. Department of Energy website that lists challenges presented to wind energy, last updated June of 2010, doesn't mention environmental or financial challenges of transportation.

Most benefit assessments of wind turbine electricity generation focus on how much atmospheric emissions are saved by replacing fossil fuel generated kilowatts with wind power generated ones. More recently, a promising shift to focusing on the total life cycle analysis of the wind turbines is taking place. Considering the entire life cycle, from extraction of ores to dismantling a turbine is a complex process. Comparing a wind farm life cycle to that of a coal plant is ridiculously complex, and is apparent when considering the extreme variations of study results. The financial implications of these studies, for both the researchers and the competing industries, likely contribute to differing results.

Solutions

Building turbines, or at least the blades and towers, near wind farms is one logical way to cut the environmental and financial costs of transportation. With varying companies producing rotors, blades and towers in the U.S. this is a difficult task.

The train industry is pushing for rail transportation, as railroad cars are better suited for wind turbine size. There's also little argument that it's cheaper to move them by train. One problem here is that the U.S. rail infrastructure is incomplete at best.

My Take

The U.S. government and corporations-are they really two entities?-must consider all aspects of a wind turbine's life cycle before continuing with the construction of wind farms. Commercial wind turbine size shouldn't keep us from taking advantage of a potential job-making machine, and doing so in the least environmentally impacting way possible.

Why not make all the towers and blades in the Great Plains, after all it is known as the "Saudi Arabia of wind". I say build short rails if we need to and just do it. The most likely scenario is the U.S. imports most wind turbines on ships from China to take advantage of cheap labor.

References:

Kate Galbraith
Slow, Costly and Often Dangerous Road to Wind Power
The New York Times

Advantages and Challenges of Wind Energy
U.S. Department of Energy: Energy Efficiency & renewable Energy