# Wind Towers



## swmnhay

They are puting up 132 Wind towers in the area.Sure are raising heck with gravel roads.Put it in 4wd to get over to my Moms to do chores this morning.We had semis going by with garvel 2 per min for a couple weeks when they were building access roads to towers and the area for their eq.Semi loads of rebar going by today.Looks like a load per tower.Set up their own cement plant,cut the local guys out.

For the power lines to the towers they are running from tower to tower across the fields.They are tearing out the crop 30' with disk ripper diangely across fields








Word is it is saving them 4.5 million compared to following the roads.

Some are po-ed with all the crop damage and wonder if it was the rite decission to sign the leases.

They do pay for crop damage and repair tile.


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## Dolphin

Once the inconvenience of construction is over, do you expect it to be close to normal activity pre-towers?


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## swmnhay

Dolphin said:


> Once the inconvenience of construction is over, do you expect it to be close to normal activity pre-towers?


Once they are done building not much traffic.You may see a pickup at a tower for maintance.If they have a major problem they do bring a crane in to replace the turbins/blades.

BIG Crane about 6 semi loads to bring it in.









I'm located on the southern end of the Buffalo Ridge which runs about 80 miles long and has a couple thousand towers on it.


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## Blue Duck

There is a wind tower poject starting soon near me. They have the land leased and data collection towers up. The problem is I farm some of the ground that will have towers but it is rented ground so I get to deal with the mess and the hassle and the land owner gets the money. The power company has started putting a huge substation in and they wanted to drive across one of our fields. They said they would pay for crop damage. They had a dozer and a grader out there building a road in the middle of the field and put up a temporary fence on the sides of the road. It was not what we had in mind when they said they just needed to drive across the field to get to the back side. On the bright side of things if I had an airplane I would have a nice runway now.


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## Dolphin

swmn I think I drove through there on my way to Denver a few years back. There were a lot back then, bet it's a lot more now.

Blue Duck, sounds like a natural for you to have a plane, you've got the name and the runway


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## swmnhay

I forget all the details on the towers.I'll post them as I hear about them.

I think around 50,000# of rebar per tower.

They are paying crop damage for roads and power lines.They have 120' easment for the roads.When they are done they will be about 15' wide.They pushed back about 8" of topsoil,put down fabric and then put down 1' of gravel.

At each tower they are knocking down about a 200' circle.

There is going to be some compaction issues.I'll haul manure on these areas and rip it and hopefully get it back in shape.


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## Blue Duck

Does anyone on the forum live close to wind towers? I am curious about how bad the noise and shadow flicker are. My parents are going to have towers as close as 1500ft from the house.


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## swmnhay

Blue Duck said:


> Does anyone on the forum live close to wind towers? I am curious about how bad the noise and shadow flicker are. My parents are going to have towers as close as 1500ft from the house.


Be able to tell you in couple months.Have 1 due north about 1000' and 1 East about 1500'

County ordinance here has to be 1000' from homes and 500' from roads.


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## swmnhay

Blue Duck said:


> Does anyone on the forum live close to wind towers? I am curious about how bad the noise and shadow flicker are. My parents are going to have towers as close as 1500ft from the house.


Was talking with a few people last night that don't like them.

One of the first ones built here is due west of a guys house and he has the constant shadow flicker in the evening.They hate it.I think this is about 500' from his house built before the 1000' rule.

Some hate the looks of them.

Spray planes won't spray by them.

Just heard they are starting on another project just west of this one,another 124 towers.

One farmer that turned them down was concerned about tile damage.There is feeder lines going to each tower diangley across fields to the substation and going threw alot of tile.He also thought the crane may crush some tile as they drive it tower to tower.

HERE we have alot of drainage tile.Some fields every 80'.


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## Blue Duck

Our county ordinance is also 1000ft from homes but we think they will be a little further from dads house. My house was going to have them southwest,west, and northwest of it so we moved. I am not against wind power but I have a son with autism and the noise and shadow flicker would be as pleasant as waterboard interrogation for him. I just hope I can still rent out my old house after the towers are up. 
YouTube - Industrial Wind Turbine Shadow Flicker in Wisconsin 2008


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## leenertshay

We have one in the works for our county. I work for a tile guy in the winter he is expecting to have enough work fixing the tile that they break for at least 2 crews maybe 3. From what I hear its at least 2 more years down the road who knows if it will even happen.


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## barnrope

We went through all that BS two summers ago when they put up the ones by us. They said they would fix tile lines but they didn't. When it was done a tile crew was hired and went in and fixed a small percentage, but most of them are still cut. We brought a tile map out to a crew who was digging in a tower base, and pointed out that they had gone through a couple tiles and the foreman of the crew just laughed at us and said it wasn't his problem.









I can't figure out why they can't fill the desserts and oceans and wastelands with windmills instead of putting them on good productive farm ground!


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## swmnhay

The first 2 sections of one tower came today.About 80' x 12'each.What a zoo.Highway patrol,DOT,pilot cars.

looks like 7 semi loads for each turbine.X 132 turbins = 924 BIG semi loads.

Our roads will be shot by time this is done.


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## swmnhay

The big crane started to arive yesterday.HUGE.Atleast 8 semi loads yesterday and it isn't all there yet.One track on a semi trailer.Atleast 3 semi loads of counter wts.

They are using rairoad timbers to sit it on to keep it from sinking.They are 4 timbers bolted together to make a 1' x 4' x 16'.and then they build a pad out of these 32' wide for the crane to sit on.

Towers began arriving,2 more sections arrived last night.There was 4 highway patrol cars for excort besides the pilot cars.

The bottom section of tower wieghs 125,000#.And there is 3 sections per tower.A specialy built trailer clamps on to the tube front and back actualy using the tower as the trailer with the wheels clamped on to both ends.


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## Dolphin

Must be quite a site/sight! Too bad nobody posted any pics


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## swmnhay

Dolphin said:


> Must be quite a site/sight! Too bad nobody posted any pics


Have to work on that.









Maybe have to hire a kid to show me how to do it


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## Dolphin

LOL

I'd like to help, do you have a digital camera or a cell phone with a camera?


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## swmnhay

Dolphin said:


> LOL
> 
> I'd like to help, do you have a digital camera or a cell phone with a camera?


Cell phone.

My digital camera crapped out


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## Dolphin

Can you plug it into your computer with a USB cable? It's a great way to back up your contacts and other data, plus you can get the photos off the phone and post them if your phone does not have Internet or is not set up to publish photos to the web.

I rarely plug my phone in to a wall outlet charge it. What phone do you have?


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## swmnhay

Dolphin said:


> Can you plug it into your computer with a USB cable? It's a great way to back up your contacts and other data, plus you can get the photos off the phone and post them if your phone does not have Internet or is not set up to publish photos to the web.
> 
> I rarely plug my phone in to a wall outlet charge it. What phone do you have?


Samsung Muse.

I'll have to get the correct cable.


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## NDVA HAYMAN

Cy, Those towers were traveling up 29 when I was heading to Va. Saw a lot of them pass me going north. I have a wind farm about 5 miles from me and I dislike the red blinking lights on the towers. Have ruined my view to the east of me. Mike


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## swmnhay

NDVA HAYMAN said:


> Cy, Those towers were traveling up 29 when I was heading to Va. Saw a lot of them pass me going north. I have a wind farm about 5 miles from me and I dislike the red blinking lights on the towers. Have ruined my view to the east of me. Mike


Mike,Yea are landscape is gonna change drastically.The GF HATES them.Sure hope we don't have blinking lights in windows and shadows.Supposed to be far enough away from house.We don't have any to the south or west within a mile.









Sure are raising heck with the gravel roads.







They do grade them and water them for dust control.

Doing alot of crop damage,which they have to pay for.Especialy from laying cable which takes about 30' wide strip.Nieghbor has 3 different lines going diangly across his farm.Coffee shop talk says it costs them 4.5 million less to go tower to tower vs following roads.

Pain in but moving farm eq.Rough roads and alot of traffic.

Sad part is the power goes to Chicago & Mpls/St Paul.

Cy


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## swmnhay

Truck was sitting waiting to unload the turbine/generator yesterday in front of my Moms.118,000#,11 axles on truck.42 tires.

For each windmill it takes 6.5 semi loads.3 tower sections,head house,nose cone and 2 blades come in on a semi.

Total wieght for each windmill is over 500,000#

Moved the big crane other day .75 mile,it took them 7 hrs because it was muddy and they had to drive it on RR tie road.Using 2 telehandlers moving ties to front of crane as it went ahead picking them up from behind it.Wrecked a path 100' wide threw corn field,has to be some major compaction.


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## BCFENCE

Thats alot of weight, Bet that was a mess.


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## NDVA HAYMAN

Cy, I hope someone is getting paid major bucks for that wreck. Compaction plus tile damage if there is any. Best of luck. Mike


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## swmnhay

They are bringing in another crane,both of them are.

Manitowoc Cranes > Products > Lattice Boom Crawler Cranes > Model 16000

Drove by just now and they were backing a semi under it with the ring gear.the main power unit/cab was standing on 4 hydraulic cylinders.Looked like a transformer or something,lol


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## swmnhay

322 yds of cement per base.132 Towers = 42504 yds of cement.4252 Truck loads.

9 semi loads per turbine X 132 = 1188 truck loads

Our poor roads.


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## NDVA HAYMAN

Cy, I feel for ya. I know that has got to be a hell of a mess. It seems like they come in and take over and tear up everything without regards to anybody. That's how it seemed when they were in our town but the store owners loved em because they spent a lot of money and rented houses that no body else wanted. Mike


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## jpritchett

are you gonna have to worry about the flashing light on the towers from messing up the day/night on the soybeans. They have to have constant darkness to produce pods. You might have to plant corn on corn or plant alfalfa instead of soybeans.


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## swmnhay

jpritchett said:


> are you gonna have to worry about the flashing light on the towers from messing up the day/night on the soybeans. They have to have constant darkness to produce pods. You might have to plant corn on corn or plant alfalfa instead of soybeans.


The flashing red light is directed out not down.You don't see it under them but see them from the distance.


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## swmnhay

Talked to nieghbor yesterday,they dug up some tile to repair where they had trenched cable.The crane had been driven there also.4" plastic tile was crushed flat 4' down.

They drove crane across gravel rd and under big transmission lines yesterday.They set the end of boom down on semi trailer and went under it.Sunk 8" in gravel road.I had to put it in 4wd to get out of the ruts.

This isn't even the big crane.The other one is setup with more counter wts and more boom.They said they are $2.5 million each.

Things arn't turning out as great as everyone thought.Alot of crop damage,tile damage,alot of traffic,and roads realy catchin heck.


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## NDVA HAYMAN

Cy, The lights near me are not a bother but a little nuisance. They are good when you have fog to find your way home


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## jpritchett

My dad went to a meeting about getting some wind towers on are land. It sounds like it pays really well. Alot better than we thought.


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## NDVA HAYMAN

JJ, I hope ya'll think long and hard before you make your decision. I just read in our local paper that they are going to have hearings on putting up 87 new towers just 10 miles north of me. North Dakota is getting filled up with wind, oil and gas.


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## swmnhay

I had to go check and sign off on tile repair 3 times this week.They cut threw 8 tile trenching in the feeder lines.They could of avoided half of them but they will not go around them.They are put in a straight line tower to tower to get the least amount of feet in.

5 cables go in trench.3 4/0 cables,ground cable and fibre optic cable.Cables cost about $28 a foot total.$147,840 per mile.45 miles ?? trenched in = $6,652,800.Plus instalation.


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## swmnhay

Was cutting hay today and crane was on next farm.Than noticed they moved it to next tower 1/4 mile south.than alittle latter next tower anther 1/4 mile south.Than awhile later 1/2 mile west.All of this was threw standing crops.28' wide strip run down threw the field.


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## swmnhay

They had to bore under a nieghbors wetland and creek,500' bore for feeder lines.They then pulled a 6" pipe back threw to put the cables in.They also are boring under all the roads.

Installation of feeder lines is $20 a ft. x 45 miles = $4,752,000


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## swmnhay

They have about 1/2 the towers up now.Have been test running the first ones built.

All the cement work is done so we have a lot less traffic going by.

I always thought they turned into the wind by themselves but there is a wind meter on top of the tower and they turn them selves into the wind and you can hear a whining noise when it turns from 1/4 mile away.

By the towers that are done they are leveling ground and deep ripping.Suppose they were actualy doing any good ripping threw standing water?


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## mlappin

We had alot of the same problems when they came thru and erected the towers for the high voltage lines in the area. I know they have deadlines to get this stuff done, but when it took several bulldozers to drag a cement truck to the towers, it just might be too wet. Took about twenty years before you couldn't tell anymore where they traveled from tower to tower.


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## expensive hobby

Blue Duck said:


> There is a wind tower poject starting soon near me. They have the land leased and data collection towers up. The problem is I farm some of the ground that will have towers but it is rented ground so I get to deal with the mess and the hassle and the land owner gets the money. The power company has started putting a huge substation in and they wanted to drive across one of our fields. They said they would pay for crop damage. They had a dozer and a grader out there building a road in the middle of the field and put up a temporary fence on the sides of the road. It was not what we had in mind when they said they just needed to drive across the field to get to the back side. On the bright side of things if I had an airplane I would have a nice runway now.


scary,they just approched me for a substation. offered 50000 for 10 acres(farmland worth 3000 around here). they pay around 15 to 20 thousand a mill per year but lowball me with the 50000,gotta know in 3 days with my decision,whatever.


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## swmnhay

They have about 20 of them running now.They are louder than I thought they would be.The noise actualy sucks.It woke me up other night.It sounds like a plane going over.

They brought a 3rd crane in and are working in the evenings with spotlights.Looks like they are trying to beat a deadline.


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## mlappin

Wouldn't surprise me in the least about the noise. I have a hay filed that the person next door has a pretty big one, gonna say it's on at least a 70' tower. If you have a good stiff breeze blowing anybody you're talking to on a cell phone can hear it in the background. Can also hear it while standing next to an idling tractor.


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## NDVA HAYMAN

Cy, I saw all the towers going up east of the worthington exit. I was amazed at all the towers they were building along the interstate. It looked like a lot of the finished towers between you and 29 weren't operating. Wished we could have got together but my son was anxious to go kill some ducks. Mike


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## swmnhay

They must be realy behind or trying to meet a deadline.They are erecting them at night with flood lights on after the wind goes down.They brought in a 4th crane.I forget how much it is just to bring it in but it is alot.They actually rent them @ $100,000 per month.Actualy the general contractor rents everything here.From pickups to toilets.Telehandlers and cranes.

Did I say the windmills were noisy?They are very annoying.Our county had a 1000' setback from any house.Now after they are up I think 1500' would prly be better.


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## swmnhay

Well now I live in the RED LIGHT district.If you are driving down I-90 just west of Worthington,Mn and see all the red lights I live on the northern end of the blinking lights.

You can't tell how windy it is now.You hear the noise of the towers and think the wind is blowing to beat heck and it is only a breeze out.


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## Dolphin

That sucks. Thanks for putting up with that so city folk can leave all their lights on.


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## swmnhay

Dolphin said:


> That sucks. Thanks for putting up with that so city folk can leave all their lights on.


All the power from these towers goes to large cities.Mpls/SP,Chicago.They started on another project and that power is being sold to Indianapolis.

There is one heck of alot of money being spent on this so called "green energy"500 milion dollars just on these 134 towers.I think a certain % of energy has to come from "green energy"by a certain date.


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## Dolphin

I remember when this was considered a new idea. Popular mechanics had an article with plans to build one using a car alternator.

I wish there was any better unit available. You would think that by now there would be one that would pay for itself in less time available for farm use.


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## swmnhay

Dolphin said:


> I remember when this was considered a new idea. Popular mechanics had an article with plans to build one using a car alternator.
> 
> I wish there was any better unit available. You would think that by now there would be one that would pay for itself in less time available for farm use.


 There is a few around here put up for farm use.Generaly they are smaller around 50-100 KW compared to the towers they put up here are 1,500 KW.One of the problems is you can not sell excess power back to the power co without some expensive switching.And the power co wants you to sell all of the power to them wholesale and buy it back retail.You could put up a tower and run the farm but then when the wind stoped NO power.So flip switch back to power co.This would be a PIA.Battery storage is very costly but maybe a option.

There is a couple companies here that are selling these smaller type generators.I see a few around but don't know alot about them.

Probably not enough wind up there in the trees compared to here on the Buffalo Ridge.

The Buffalo Ridge in SW,Mn is a ridge that rises slightly and creates the wind to pickup speed slightly making it the windiest area in Mn.I think its about 80 miles long and it is being plastered with 1000's of windmills.


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## mlappin

swmnhay said:


> There is a few around here put up for farm use.Generaly they are smaller around 50-100 KW compared to the towers they put up here are 1,500 KW.One of the problems is you can not sell excess power back to the power co without some expensive switching.And the power co wants you to sell all of the power to them wholesale and buy it back retail.You could put up a tower and run the farm but then when the wind stoped NO power.So flip switch back to power co.This would be a PIA.Battery storage is very costly but maybe a option.
> 
> There is a couple companies here that are selling these smaller type generators.I see a few around but don't know alot about them.
> 
> Probably not enough wind up there in the trees compared to here on the Buffalo Ridge.
> 
> The Buffalo Ridge in SW,Mn is a ridge that rises slightly and creates the wind to pickup speed slightly making it the windiest area in Mn.I think its about 80 miles long and it is being plastered with 1000's of windmills.


Sorry to hear it Cy, I just love putting up with other peoples bright ideals. Maybe it will at least make your area less desirable to build on. Idiots that control zoning in our county implemented a 20 acre law to build a house on. They think it saves farm ground, most of the time after their done building your lucky to have ten acres left to farm and that ten is a gigantic pain in the ass as instead of building in the corner, they have to plop the house down right in the middle, then piss away some on huge lawn they pay somebody to mow, then have a few outbuildings or a pasture for the hay burners. It gets worse when a large chunk gets cut up and several houses go on, have 20 or 30 left to farm with several landlords that all think it should be done a different way. What used to be a nice field to farm all of a sudden looks like a geometry problem from hell.

We have a state park across the road from us, I'd like to meet the guy that thought that was a good ideal, I have a junk punch waiting with his name on it.


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## swmnhay

[quote name='Dolphin']I remember when this was considered a new idea. Popular mechanics had an article with plans to build one using a car alternator.

QUOTE]
There was a 32 volt wndpowered system on my farm that was put in before the REA system went threw here.I believe it was put in about 1930.It had a battery backup system of 16 batteries.They were made of thick glass about 1" thick..The system also had a kerosene driven generator for when the wind didn't blow.

My great uncle owned the farm and after he died we bought it.The power plant haddn't been used in yrs and the wind tower had blown over.One day I noticed someone stole the tower.Then about a yr later someone stole the generator out of the shed.It was mostly cast iron and had to wt nearly 1000 lbs.


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## swmnhay

I got the crop damage sheet yesterday.On the corn acres damaged they figured 185 bu corn.Guess I have to go bitch about that.215 bu an acre on the rest of field.198 bu 10 yr avg.

About 8 acres damaged for 2 towers.Roads,buring feeder lines,crane damage.

We will loose about 1.5 acres to roads and windmill pad.


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