Blue Canyon wind farm
I was driving on business yesterday and deceided to take a different route back. I had heard there was a small wind farm North of Lawton, Oklahoma. Here's my first view...
I thought these were downwind turbines because they have no tails. All the turbine's blades are facing into a 40 mph wind. Notice the arch in the blades. No Swoosh...swoosh...swoosh... Since they are computerized, maybe they can optimize themselves for the best possible configuration.
WOW! Someone said small? I counted 74 in one field, then 57 in another. Still others were in the construction stage. Three large cranes were on site. The entire wind farm must stretch for 10 miles or more. It's hard to realize how big they are until you see them.
The farmer who owns the land gets the lease money and a percentage of the turbine's output. That makes a hill he realized little profit from in the past into a valuable asset.There's not much grazing potential on this hill and you certainly can't plow it because it's nearly all rock.
In the winter, the farmer pastures his cattle in the valleys on wheat. In the spring, the cattle are moved to permanent pasture and the wheat is combined or cut for hay. It seems like a good symbiotic relationship.
If you are interested...
Googling Blue Canyon Wind farm said the area has a potential of 200 turbines and 74 magawatts at 138kV.
Here are the Blue Canyon turbine dimensions
http://www.cottonelectric.com/pdf/turbine_dimensions.pdf
BLUE CANYON WIND FARM BASIC FACTS http://www.cottonelectric.com/services/windfarm.html
