Princeton, MA Installs Two Wind Turbines

I must say, this is just wonderful. I'm sure there's the standard grumbling about bird strikes and noise, but Princeton, Massachusetts, has upgraded their old windfarm to two new 1.5MW Führlander turbines, that will apparently supply 40% of the town's power. That is nothing short of incredible, and good for the residents of Princeton to have the foresight and will to pursue truly renewable energy.

Though the site is closed to the public, it's directly adjacent to a hiking trail and a carriage path goes to a nearby road. Having grown up in the nearby area, I had to take a look. Though the turbines are not up yet, I've a few photos of the un-assembled turbines and towers. There is a crane on the site that is truly awe-inspiring. I've heard that they will stand around 250' (not including the blades), which should give an idea of the size of the crane.

First, the crane from a distance:


Naturally, this doesn't give much of a sense of the size of the crane, and the trees in the foreground are foreshortened, so it looks smaller than it actually is. Before you get to the site, however, you come across one of the thirds of the pylon, and two blades:


Again, not particularly helpful when it comes to scale. You can tell that these objects are large, but just how large? This doesn't really give a sense of how massive the blades are themselves. You can see their diameters in the photo before, with the three cylinders side-by-side (the pylon is on the far left, two blades on center and right).


That is the widest part of a blade on the windmill. Imagine a window fan, for reference. The crane itself is massive, and once past the various pieces of turbines, the crane comes into view (along with the 18-wheeler that transported the pylon segments for reference). Keep in mind that the tiny little truck is the cab of an 18-wheeler:


After seeing this, I really had to get a closer look at this crane. The thing is HUGE. Take a look at a person of average height standing next to the track on this thing:


For further awe-inducing information, take a look at the weight of just one track, some 64,000 lbs. or 32 tons! A schematic on the side gave the numbers:


Finally, I got an up-close look at the blades myself, which have a similar design to airplane wings (I'm not sure what the tiny teeth do, but I saw them on the wings of my plane on a recent flight). However, the topography of the blade is very different from that of a plane's wing, particularly near the tip (at least, I think so - never having been this close to a 747, I can't be sure). Here's a close-up:


The machining on the blades is simply magnificent. Given the size and scale of the things, take a look at the trailing edge of the blade, less than a centimeter wide:


Surprisingly, the whole thing is connected together with your standard twist-lock connector, more or less the same as a 20Amp stinger. There were about twenty of them, however, and I'm not sure if perhaps there's a separate set of head cables for the mains. Still, surprisingly accessible technology:


It's really quite amazing. And though I am concerned about the noise and birds, this is a step in the right direction. It's important to remember that turbines are power plants. Here's a good way to think about the installation: at this picturesque, rural site, would you rather have turbines or a coal plant? Turbines or a nuclear steam cooling tower? Whenever NIMBYs complain about the noise or "unsightliness" of wind turbines, I hope they realize that the alternatives are considerably more offensive to the senses and the environment.