Mine and Sherman’s road trip turbine adventure last weekend.
What better way to spend my 30th birthday than to look into our future… Ha ha…
We visited the turbines in Payne, OH–both “farms”. One appears to be complete and the other still very much in progress. We hit the trip odometer on the van when we FIRST saw them on the horizon and it took us over 14 miles to reach them after that. There were no fences, or signs stating the wind development company or “no trespassing” so we decided to get a close look. I stood directly underneath what Josh said are Vestas V90s (100 feet SHORTER than the ones planned for us). It was INSANE and definitely depressing. From where I stood under the first one we stopped at I counted around 50 in my line of view. From what I am told there are far more in that area and as I would see later many more in the process of being built.
They were barely spinning that day–but when it did, it sounded like hypnotic industrial breathing–in (blade going up) and out (blade coming down). Sherman put his hand against the tower and said, “Nope, no epiphany.” (Larry Gould said that of his first experience under a turbine.) The shadow flicker right below it was intense because it appears that the blades are not just moving but “chasing” each other as it goes around.
If that wasn’t bad enough we continued through the destroyed rural landscape and came across the ones in progress. We knew this would probably be our only chance to get this close and since it was a Sunday there didn’t seem to be a soul around. We stopped at several turbines in various stages of construction and took pictures that I have included. Even after standing under a completed one only an hour earlier, I could not fathom the size until I stood next to a completed blade assembly waiting to be hoisted into the sky or the nacelle, which is bigger than you can ever imagine when looking up into the sky at it. We wanted to explore more–look inside the cover of the nacelle and the mammoth crane it takes to build these but didn’t want to push our luck of not getting into trouble.
What an eye opener!!!! It’s a nice country drive–I encourage anyone who has the time to drive down there. It was about 2 hours there and we spent about 2 hours driving around investigating. These pics were taken with our camera on our cell phone. I am angry with myself I forgot my regular camera…
Laura
Thanks Laura for sharing your adventure and taking the pics. Even though they were taken with your cell phone, much better than no pics at all!
Blissfield's Blog 
“If that wasn’t bad enough we continued through the destroyed rural landscape…”
Here’s a tip: The wind turbines didn’t destroy the rural landscape, early farmers and settlers did. This entire region was nearly unbroken forest and swamp prior to European settlement. Our ancestors felled the trees and drained the swamps. Vast tilled acreage is not the natural state.
I’ve stood beneath large wind turbines in Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania and have found them to be nothing but peaceful. They’re relatively quiet and unimposing, and yet generate considerable electricity. Considering rising fossil fuel prices, their value per acre can only increase. I personally would find no objection to my backyard skyline being littered with them. They offer more to see than barren plowed fields.
Yes Jeremy, we could have avoided the rural landscape if they didn’t find it was more efficient to grow massive quantities of one crop at a time…and if we all lived in dens – saving our dinosaur dung and burning our food for warmth.
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