The Wind Farm that Can Power 20 Trillion Lines of Crap for 2 Million Years

Yesterday, News.com.au published an opinion piece by Terry McCrann, on climate change and wind farms:

Terry is a prolific commentator. His speaker's profile states:

'For over a decade and a half, Terry Mcrann has provided critical analysis on the wide range of events and personalities that have shaped the nation, from the entrepreneurs to the politicians.'

Curiously absent from his profile is what I feel is his biggest strength - the capacity to use the phrase 'so-called wind farms' without irony.

Responding to McCrann's assertions about climate change seems unwise. What I did find amusing is that, in the process of awkwardly attempting to shoehorn his loathing of wind energy into an attack on climate science, McCrann used a picture of an 'abandoned wind farm' - a quick reverse Google Image Search reveals more:

The site 'Model Mayhem' seems to be the only other reference for this picture, which isn't exactly reassuring. Yet, it doesn't seem to reveal the location of the shoot.

I'm informed by an American wind industry analyst, Paul Gipe, that the site is actually San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm near Palm Springs, California. It features 3,218 wind turbines, a total installed capacity of 615 megawatts, an old school bus, and is most certainly not abandoned - the facility generates about 893 gigawatt hours of energy each year.

San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm, as photographed by American wind industry advocate Paul Gipe - read more of his thoughts here , and read his debunking of 'abandoned' wind farms here

Unlike the vast, rusted wasteland that seems to exist solely in the landscape of McCrann's sepia-toned  imagination, this wind farm generates power all year round, apparently enough to power nearly all of Palm Springs.

San Gorgonio from space, via NASA's Ikonos satellite

Let's assume it takes four seconds to write the phrase "so-called wind farms", and McCrann's laptop consumes 40 watts of power. Using 1 year's worth of energy from this farm, Mcrann could write that phrase approximately 20,092,500,000,000 times, over 2,548,516 years. See, Terry? They're not entirely useless.

(For some more information on the persistent myth of 'abandoned wind turbines', check out Mike Barnard's post here, including his rebuttal of the fabricated '14,000' figure)

Operational Wind Farm (Lake Bonney 1, South Australia)

Abandoned Wind Farm (Supplied)

Wind Farm Tourists Inexplicably Immune to 'Wind Turbine Syndrome'

A consistent feature of 'Wind Turbine Syndrome' is the concept that the affliction is acute, rather than chronic. That is, you can get it almost instantaneously, without having lived near wind turbines for any period of time.

Consider, for instance, the curious case of Andrew Carswell from The Daily Telegraph, who claims he suffered from the mysterious malady whilst staying near a wind farm in New South Wales:

"The Daily Telegraph spent the night in the home of Ruth Corrigan at the foot of this collection of green-energy monstrosities. There is noise — a low thud that seems to be on repeat, a wind effect that produces an eerie whirl.....There is also pressure that is felt across the forehead, akin to the early stages of a mild dehydration headache. Again, minimal, but entirely noticeable"

Alternately, two acousticians in the US claimed they experienced "nausea, loss of appetite, vertigo, dizziness, inability to concentrate, an overwhelming desire to get outside, and anxiety" after working near wind turbines - an instantaneous onset of the symptoms touted by anti-wind groups like the Waubra Foundation.

The Waubra Foundation asserts that symptoms will occur on immediate exposure to wind turbines....

Do we see this effect consistently, or just from people who might harbour some predilection for the 'symptoms' of wind turbine syndrome? I found a way to dig a little deeper into this, via a curious quote from the reliably bonkers Donald Trump, on the impact of wind farms on tourism:

"In his submission to MSPs, Mr Trump, chairman and chief executive officer of the Trump Organisation, argued that tourists will not travel to Scotland to "look at ugly turbines". He said that when faced with "these industrial monstrosities" on the countryside and coastline, visitors will "hate it and go elsewhere"."

As it happens, wind farms have no impact on tourism in their vicinity. They also serve as attractions themselves - I've visited the Woolnorth wind farm in Tasmania before - they operate tours, and our bus was packed full that day.

I took this at the Woolnorth Wind Farm, in Tasmania, in February 2011

TripAdvisor collects reviews of hotels, bars, restaurants and of course, tourist attractions. I found five operational wind farms and three areas that have a single wind turbine or a large wind farm nearby. On average, the wind farms were rated 4.5 out of 5. The three locations had an average of 4.1 out of 5. Summarised in the table below:


As you'd expect, nearly everyone visiting the wind farms found it to be a positive experience. Considering online reviews are skewed towards those who had negative experiences, we'd surely expect anyone suffering the symptoms of 'wind turbine syndrome' to have aired their grievances through review sites like TripAdvisor. From the wind farms with the bigger sample sizes:

"I love this place... quiet and serene. The view up the hill with the sea and all the windmills is just awesome! Been there twice and still loving it!"

"An unusual attraction but well-managed for visitors and surprisingly interesting. The Visitor Centre has "hands on" exhibits and innovative and informative displays which are appropriate for both adult and younger visitors. "

"Its amazing. Mile after mile of these engineering artworks that generate energy. The site is well laid out with easily accessible paths. We visited recently, summertime, but it is equally magical on a golden frosty morning if you are well wrapped up."

I trawled the reviews of their listed wind farm pretty thoroughly, but they're most positive, and the negative reviews seem consistently to relate to delays in food service at cafes.


Of course, those choosing to visit wind farms aren't likely to harbour some potent dislike of wind energy - but that's the point. 'Wind Turbine Syndrome' doesn't seem to be a physiological affliction that exists separate from psychology and attitude. Immunity to wind turbine syndrome seems to stem simply from liking wind farms.

The Experiment - Will Newcastle Give me Wind Farm Syndrome?

This weekend, I'm going to stay in Newcastle, for a friend's wedding. It's going to be fun, and, as it happens, I'll be staying exactly 6.037 kilometres away from a wind turbine on Kooragang Island:

Click to embiggen

It's not a big wind turbine - it's a 600 kilowatt machine, that generates about 900 megawatt hours per annum - Energy Australia have also opted to scrap the machine, to make way for more coal export infrastructure.

Street view imagery of the wind turbine

As far as I know, the wind turbine is yet to be de-energised, and is still operational. According to windturbinesyndrome.com, 600 kw turbines are certainly large enough to cause health impacts - see here for an example of the citation of research on 600 kilowatt machines.

Robert Rand, an acoustician who claims to have suffered the impacts of 'wind turbine syndrome' whilst conducting sound tests on a wind farm, states that 100 kilowatt machines are enough to cause health impacts (teamed with some nauseatingly offensive clipart):

Anyway, we'll see how I go over the weekend. As it happens,  there are quite a few people within a 10 kilometre radius of this particular wind turbine - about 155,737, at a conservative estimate, using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.10 kilometres is the danger zone touted by anti-wind groups, so perhaps I'll ask around town, see if anyone's affected.

Wish me luck.

The Stupefaction Gambit: "Community Acceptance Will Fuel Community Division"

Picture this: A man sits nervously in the witness stand, his hands bound by cuffs, his every move watched closely by a jury. A lawyer slowly steps up to him, and says:

"Sir, the evidence is irrefutable. You murdered Mr Wales, in cold blood". 

The accused smiles at the corner of his mouth.

"Hear this, my good man: you are wrong. It is Mr Wales who murdered me, and I shall avenge his crimes, mark my words!"

I call it the Stupefaction Gambit. If you stand accused of some wrongdoing, steel yourself, swallow your self-awareness, point at your accuser and accuse them of that same folly. In the ensuing chaos, the irrationality of your claim sneaks quietly past the other parties. 

Recently, Neil Barrett, a film-maker from Victoria with an interest in renewable energy and a small share in the Hepburn community wind farm (also in Victoria) released a set of videos (condensed version below) interviewing residents near the Waubra Wind Farm. 

Waubra was used by an anti-wind group, then known as the Pyrenees Shire Landscape Guardians, as the name for a new foundation and a new disease - the "Waubra Disease Foundation", later to be known simply as the 'Waubra Foundation'. At the time, the media focused solely on the complainants, and Barrett's new film aims to un-skew this precarious misrepresentation. The clips received some coverage in the Midland Express, a rural news outlet near Kyneton. Barrett says in the article:

"It is important that people outside the community understand that there's much more to Waubra than the claims of the foundation's board members who live on average of 350 kilometres from Waubra. 

The football team had a great year, the community fund has given $70,000 to local groups (including the school which has been able to hire a new music teacher) and farmers are more sustainable and profitable now the wind farm is in operation."

The article attracted a response from the Waubra Foundation, yet to be published on the Midland Express website but available in the print edition (I've saved a copy of the text here). One sentence caught my eye:

"Longstanding wind energy advocate, Neil Barrett, has just helped fuel the tensions in a divided community at Waubra "

The sheer irrationality of suggesting the testimony of people who live peacefully with wind turbines will somehow fuel division and disharmony is forgotten as we stand blinded by confusion, struck with stupefaction.

Barrett's videos are likely to show to the public that the veneer of disaster and disease, spread over Waubra by anti-wind groups and the media, is most certainly not representative of those who live there. This is something that we can logically expect the Waubra Foundation to object to.

The steel towers for Waubra Wind Farm were manufactured at the Keppel Prince manufacturing facility, near Portland, Victoria

As Sandi Keane wrote in New Matilda, Waubra is a community, not a disease - the town is thriving and the divisions touted passionately by anti-wind groups and partly by the media seem hard to resolve amongst the testimony of locals who like the turbines, or barely notice them. This isn't a unique phenomenon. The CSIRO published research in January 2012, which found that:

"There is strong community support for the development of wind farms, including support from rural residents who do not seek media attention or political engagement to express their views. 

This finding contrasts with the level of opposition that may be assumed from the typically ‘conflict-oriented’ portrayal of wind farm proposals in the popular media. This media coverage frequently gives significant attention to legal challenges, political protests, and vocal opponents including ‘Landscape Guardian’ and high profile individuals, but fails to balance this with coverage of middle ground views, or with equivalent attention to the potential benefits of with wind farms."

A local farmer from Waubra recently featured on 'Farmer Wants a Wife' - these chaps don't seem bothered by the wind farm in the background.

Waubra is a community that was used to christen a seemingly non-existent disease, and being made to hear the voices of that community must surely be unsettling for the Waubra Foundation. The fact that their namesake, the Waubra community, bears no ill-will towards the wind farm, means the Foundation is left only with the Stupefaction Gambit.