The Oil Drum

215 comments on DrumBeat: April 17, 2008

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folsomman on April 17, 2008 - 12:33pm

Of course, there are some wind farms in California's coast ranges, though not by Santa Barbara. There's a big one along the 580 corridor between Livermore and Tracy in Altamont pass, and a smaller one on Pacheco Pass overlooking the San Luis Reservoir. I think all the other big CA wind farms are on mountains abutting the desert, or in the desert near a pass--Tehachapi to Mojave or near Palm Springs, etc. The timing of wind in those places is often a good match to air conditioning load.

Mark Folsom

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Gwydion on April 17, 2008 - 1:12pm

I had the opportunity to ask some people in Livermore what they thought of the wind farms and they didn't like them them because they're noisy and it drives the land prices down. My guess however is that those turbines are the older type with props that spin very quickly. I used to live in Wyoming and got about 1/3 of my power from a wind farm (unfortunately I had to pay for the privilege). They were pretty different from the ones in Livermore or in southern california: they had a transmission on them so they'd change gear to suit the wind speed and keep the props rotating at a constant rate. This keeps the noise down and increases the lifetime of the prop (less stress fractures). Also, they'd stop themselves and turn to face the wind when it changed directions. Even hiking around the base of the hill it was on you couldn't hear anything. I can't remember talking to anyone who lived there who thought those were a bad thing, but gorgeous vistas are in no short supply in Wyoming and maybe people won't miss a few of them.