Wind Industry Illegally Dumping Discarded Turbine Blades Across America

[pipedreams]

 

"Hundreds of thousands of wind turbine blades have already found their way into landfill, with millions more to follow.

Bear in mind the wind industry has been with us for barely 20 years and most of the increase in (occasional) generating capacity has occurred in the last decade. And yet, thousands of blades are being replaced on operating turbines or simply dumped when they are unshackled from turbines that have already given up the ghost.

As an increasing number of landfills reach bursting point, instead of paying for the cost of dumping them legally, wind power outfits are piling them up in enormous heaps all across the USA.

Back in August, we reported on one blade ‘recycling’ company busted for illegally storing hundreds of wind turbine blades at three sites in Iowa. Global Fiberglass Solutions Inc was busted for piling up over 1,300 blades at three makeshift dumps – despite claiming it would ‘recycle’ them.

In Oregon, one so-called wind turbine blade ‘recycler’ was whacked with a $57,282 fine for dumping hundreds of dilapidated blades right next to a natural spring and wetland. It made the bogus claim that the 2,741 cubic yard cocktail of fibreglass and toxic plastics amounted to “clean fill”."

https://climate-science.press/2022/01/27/blade-runners-wind-industry-illegally-dumping-discarded-turbine-blades-across-america/

[Walt Longmire]

So how do the indestructible blades wear out? Is it from all the bird strikes?

[janice6]

4 hours ago, Walt Longmire said:

So how do the indestructible blades wear out? Is it from all the bird strikes?

I saw one still standing a few miles from town.  It was not turning, and one blade looked as if it split apart or was somehow hit by the other blades.  Pieces were dangling from it however the other two blades seemed to be in an original shape.

I don't know of a bird large enough in this locale that could do that to a blade, so I assume that it had a bearing failure and possibly froze during rotation with the inertia forces during deceleration causing the blade's destruction.  The weakest one failed.

I haven't seen any other failed wind generator, so my experience is drawn from an example of one.

[Maser]

Maybe soon on YouTube we will see people use them old blades to build a house with. 

[NPTim]

Why don’t they use them for artificial reefs?

[Batesmotel]

16 minutes ago, NPTim said:

Why don’t they use them for artificial reefs?

Because they will break lose and the tides will push them around destroying everything in their wake like natural reefs. 
 

This is what happened with the artificial reefs we made out of tires and concrete held together with steel cable. We wiped out healthy natural reefs. 
 

They discovered anything other than massively amounts of concrete or sunken ships won’t work. 

[railfancwb]

I’ll bet those could make a GREAT border wall, especially if stood on end in deep enough holes. 

[minervadoe]

Even with government subsidies, wind turbines do not produce enough profit to allow for the proper disposal of damaged gear and worn out equipment?

I'm having a lot trouble seeing the green in so called green energy. 
 

Quote

 

As consumers, we pay for electricity twice: once through our monthly electricity bill and a second time through taxes that finance massive subsidies for inefficient wind and other energy producers.

Most cost estimates for wind power disregard the heavy burden of these subsidies on US taxpayers. But if Americans realized the full cost of generating energy from wind power, they would be less willing to foot the bill – because it’s more than most people think.

Over the past 35 years, wind energy – which supplied just 4.4% of US electricity in 2014 – has received US$30 billion in federal subsidies and grants. These subsidies shield people from the uncomfortable truth of just how much wind power actually costs and transfer money from average taxpayers to wealthy wind farm owners, many of which are units of foreign companies.

 

https://theconversation.com/wind-costs-more-than-you-think-due-to-massive-federal-subsidies-38804

[holyjohnson]

12 hours ago, Walt Longmire said:

So how do the indestructible blades wear out? Is it from all the bird strikes?

snow, Rain, Sand and just Debris wear away the outer layers and compromise the integrity of the Blade.

 

they were never a really well thought out Power Option.

[railfancwb]

Where is the green? Did you look under the table?

[Fog]

The blades wear even when they are not turning. A very light breeze, I've also heard it claimed just the vibration of the earth, wears the blades when they are parked. Some wear is an internal breakdown of structural fibers due to cyclic stresses, externally they wear from exposure to sunlight breaking down the weatherproof surface. Moisture getting past the suface allows the power of ice to bust them apart from the inside out.

[Walt Longmire]

1 hour ago, Fog said:

The blades wear even when they are not turning. A very light breeze, I've also heard it claimed just the vibration of the earth, wears the blades when they are parked. Some wear is an internal breakdown of structural fibers due to cyclic stresses, externally they wear from exposure to sunlight breaking down the weatherproof surface. Moisture getting past the suface allows the power of ice to bust them apart from the inside out.

That sounds like a whole lotta HORSE ****. We're being screwed over. Is Hunter Biden making money off this?

[Batesmotel]

1 minute ago, Walt Longmire said:

That sounds like a whole lotta HORSE ****.

Nope. The newer light weight, high efficiency blades are just cracking from stress. The new blades suck. The need to be replaced before they come apart and damage the tower. But yes, we are being screwed. 

[Huaco Kid]

I'd imagine that they are designed for it,  but I could see where an impact with a large 180mph hawk could make cracks / dings that could quickly worsen.

[gwalchmai]

1 - Create / recognize an energy/environment crisis

2 - Propose wind power as a solution to 1

3 - Pass legislation to benefit crony donors who build wind power solutions

4 - Squeeze all the money / graft out of 3

5 - Create / recognize a wind power waste crisis

6 - GoTo 2 above

"I'm just a bill..."

[Fog]

14 hours ago, Walt Longmire said:

That sounds like a whole lotta HORSE ****. We're being screwed over. Is Hunter Biden making money off this?

Everything I posted is true, but you are right, it all adds up to a lotta ****. A few people and a few businesses have gotten rich off the loads of **** the rest of us are paying for.

[norton]

I saw a blade on the ground today while travelling through Madison County  Indiana.  The base was still in the ground, but the entire "propeller" was laying horizontally.  Maybe just for maintenance, IDK.

It's a 19th century solution to a 21st Century problem.

Stupid and wasteful.  

[LostinTexas]

Green energy is anything but "Green". It isn't very efficient either.

And,,,,,,,,,,,,,It's so clean.

[railfancwb]

Ask some who survived winter in Texas last year, when the sun wasn’t shining or the solar cells were covered with snow and there was little or no wind. They can preach to the glories so “green” power.