Defense Department halts wind farm projects

[struggle4progress]

Concerns about radar interference stops Midwest construction.
By Jeff Nesmith

WASHINGTON BUREAU
Tuesday, June 06, 2006

WASHINGTON — The wind energy industry, in the midst of record-breaking growth, has hit a snag because of concern the giant turbines may interfere with radar facilities used by the military.

At least a dozen wind-energy operations under construction in the Midwest received letters from the Federal Aviation Administration last week, directing sponsors to stop work pending a study of the effect the 300-foot-high turbines might have on radar ..

Wind turbines in operation at the end of last year were producing nearly 10,000 megawatts of electric power — enough to power 2 million homes — and the industry has said it is on track to add 3,000 megawatts this year ..

http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/other/06/6wind.html

[izzie]

1. Why doen't they go back to killing the great whales like always?

tHIS MILITARY STUFF IS GETTING REAL OLD.

[DELUSIONAL]

2. There are hundreds of wind turbines throughout the west & midwest

Wyoming has many located near the Continental divide.

Is this really the military or is wind generation really cutting into the pocket book of the oil companies??

[Dead_Parrot]

6. There might be some sound(ish) reasoning in it

IIRC, a wind farm planned for Scotland was dropped because it would play merry hell with radar at a local airport. Although given the state of the US government at the moment, I'm inclined to lean towards the oil co's pulling the strings in this case.

[Ready4Change]

3. Military industry protecting the old Energy industry. nt

[WhiteTara]

4. Of course

National security covers lots of sins

[skids]

5. Well, then may I suggest...

...lots and lots of these:



http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060523006136&newsLang=en
http://www.pacwind.net/products.html

(I wonder what excuse the government will eventually come up with to hassle micro-wind)

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Thanks for the link, but they need to fix that page. (pacwind)

I get little besides white space.

[benburch]

8. Their page will only render in Firefox.

:shrug:

[Dead_Parrot]

10. So they only want smart people...

...I don't have a problem with that. :D

[Massacure]

9. 200 watts at 25 mph is weak for $3500.

[skids]

11. Yeah...

The speed response is a bit disappointing on that one. I only mention it because it's the first one sold "out of the box" that I've seen.

(and it's $4,500. Hopefully the prices will come down.)

[mopinko]

12. i want one.

i live in chicago, a few blocks from lake michigan. i have a near constant breeze here, enough to bend the growth of some of the trees. i want to put a turbine of some sort on my roof.

[skids]

13. take your pick...

There are plenty of roof mount models available, though most of the reasonably priced ones are HAWTs:

http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/small_wind_turbines_small_wind_generators_gallery.htm
http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/small_wind_generators_turbines_manufacturers.htm
http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/vertical_axis_wind_turbines.htm