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November 14, 2024

Storm damaged Invenergy’s Windfarm in Vermilion County –

By John Kraft & Kirk Allen

On April 10, 2020

Vermilion County, Illinois (ECWd) –

These photographs (click to enlarge) are from a wind turbine located northwest of the Route 49 and 2600 North intersection in Vermilion County, Illinois.

Photos provided by a reader.

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10 Comments
  • Sandra Gray
    Posted at 14:21h, 10 April

    To bad, so sad.

  • jannie
    Posted at 09:54h, 10 April

    I hate it when people call these things “windmills” – this nearly 500 ft wind turbine or wind generator isn’t the same as the 1950’s windmill. And, nor did the taxpayers normally subsidize the farmers windmills of the day.
    It’s been my observation in businesses & residential that when the wind turbine breaks is damaged by the wind or what have you those aren’t repaired or replace because 1. they business or other got the money to put up and that’s it. 2. If it was such a great deal efficient & provided much energy the business would replace it. In IA I would drive by a business with 3 and as they broke they just stood with no blades or the blade hung. I’ve seen several others. Personally as a taxpayer I’m tired of paying for these things – made in foreign countries anyway. Oh, well.

    • Chrissy
      Posted at 19:06h, 10 April

      I know, I hate when people call wind turbines “windmills” but I also hate when people post inaccurate information. First of all, these turbines are 100 meters, which equates to 328 feet, not “nearly 500 ft”. Secondly, trust me, when a company spends an average of 4-5 million per turbine, they don’t just let it sit there and not repair them. Maybe you’ve seen residential turbines that haven’t been repaired, but clearly businesses are much different. California Ridge has 134 wind turbines, multiply that by 4-5 million. They don’t just haphazardly throw turbines up at that cost without knowing they will be efficient and provide a profit. And lastly, just as taxpayers didn’t subsidize farmers windmills, neither do we. So, personally as a taxpayer, you can rest assured that wind farms don’t need or use your tax dollars, they can take care of themselves.

      • PK
        Posted at 20:00h, 10 April

        Add 1/2 rotor diameter to tower height for total height per aviation marker light requirements…142 meters for the General Electric turbine model in question @ the Vermilion County site?

        • SavetheEarthfromfoolstryingtosaveit
          Posted at 03:41h, 11 April

          That is the most ridiculous statement I have heard yet about wind turbines. No tax dollars?? Every flipping one of them is a boondoggle. I’ve even heard Siemens reps say not a single turbine can pay for themselves over their lifetime. How can that be sustainable? Turbines are nothing more than a jobs program and from mining, to refining, to fabrication, to transportation, to construction on site, to power lines there is virtually no difference in emissions from a natural gas pipe from North Dakota to your nearest gas turbine plant which happens to be firing up every time the wind ain’t blowing. Go read about rare earth neodymium magnets in turbines. The mining and refining and final fabrication of a magnet that weighs up to a ton. 30% of the residual mining/refining waste of that rare earth metal is radioactive. Sitting in pits in China and Malaysia. Tailings that will polluting the soil and water until the sun finally melts the earth. Then think of the amount of fossil fuels used to make the rubber, the monstrous carbon fiber blades, the 50 gallons or more of gear oil. Then all the copper in the turbine motor itself. The copper power lines all over the place inefficiently carrying energy from miles and miles away from where it is needed. Then you have the steel towers and rebar. Filthy coke coal is used to make that steel. Then the huge concrete pads that need to be poured. All that concrete is made with natural gas or coal. Then think of the tens of thousands of gallons of diesel needed to transport all the parts of a turbine and get them to the site and finally assemble it. I could go on and on. All those resources for a pittance of energy. Plus we will soon see the end of migratory bats. Why? When a bat or an insect flies near a spinning blade their lungs explode. Bats and bugs are attracted to those turbines and you can watch infrared videos of bats flying toward the blades and they drop. Imagine a Hoary bat trying to migrate from Minnesota to Mexico. Chiroptologists estimate extinction of migratory bats in 30 years DUE to turbines alone. A german study estimates one turbine kills 70 pounds of insects a year. Think of how many monarchs die from those turbines. 60% insect decline in 20 years in the US. Turbines are part of the problem. Then you have the birds of prey deaths. One wind farm in California has killed over 200 golden eagles over the years. Like bats they have such a low reproductive rate it will take decades for that population to recover even if they shut that farm down. Hopefully our country and state will be so strapped for cash we don’t fund these damn boondoggles anymore. Build a natural gas pipe to a plant for efficient energy with minimal emissions. Or go nuke plants. But this solar, wind turbine, electric battery nonsense are impractical inefficient toxic waste dumps that are going to kill our biodiversity and soil and water pollution forever. I have articles and sources to back all this up if wanted.

          • PK
            Posted at 11:34h, 11 April

            The horizontal axis wind turbine is not for the birds, bats, or bugs. Its an indictment for “Building a natural gas pipe to a plant for efficient energy with minimal emissions.” In the anthropocene, that’s a real clinker, eh?

    • April Sutton
      Posted at 21:03h, 10 April

      My husband has put up several of these wind Mills t
      You people say that they are not good for you let me clearify that. He’s not been sick ore does he have any sort of cancers he’s healthy and happy these windmills are safe to humans and a animals and I have seen them get new blades yes it might be expensive but look they save a family thousands of dollars in just the first couple of years.

      • jmkraft
        Posted at 21:05h, 10 April

        If they are so good, quit getting gov’t subsidies for them – truth is they cost more than they produce without fed funds.

  • Elizabeth Gruber
    Posted at 08:21h, 10 April

    Even a windmill can get bent out of shape in this environment.

  • A. Lincoln
    Posted at 08:18h, 10 April

    If you like your windmill, you can keep your windmill.

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