Wind turbines in cities

[gmwise]

I think I would rather hear them compare to the road racket.

[gmwise]

Sitting here I am reminded of a song called "poisoning pigeons in the park".
AH...does anyone remember Dr Demento...

[bluedogok]

You can see some small "home power" windmills in town, especially in some of the areas with acreages but as previously stated they have to be in an area with a steady flow of wind and those get disrupted in town. The large wind farm windmills are huge, we see the blades on trucks coming up from the coast and they are longer than a standard semi-trailer.

One of the biggest home power windmill manufacturers is based in Norman, Bergey Windpower.

[nik4411]

yea believe it or not pelicans do visit this state. i actually saw a couple this morning on thunderbird while i was duck hunting.

[Urban Pioneer]

One of the biggest home power windmill manufacturers is based in Norman, Bergey Windpower.

Gosh that website is truly terrible. I like to think of myself as a techy but the information on the site is difficult to interpret. They need to hire a good marketer.

[gmwise]

Gosh that website is truly terrible. I like to think of myself as a techy but the information on the site is difficult to interpret. They need to hire a good marketer.

Some companies tend to just want a place mat if they really dont think a web presence is a real need.
"We're in the Yellow Pages"..lol
You can see that on this site with low production and script.

[soonerfan_in_okc]

Well I was hoping this thread was a joke, but apparently not. I cant beleive anyone wants to have these wind turbines in a city! They are incredibly ugly and they do not produce as much electricity as everyone thinks. Im not a hippie or environmentalist by any means, but it does bother me that people want to see wind farms and solar farms everywhere. They take up tons of space and ruin what used to be nice views. Sure, you can still farm until them and what not, but come on, I dont beleive anyone wants to sit and stare at a windfarm and consider it "a nice view."

i agree. do people really think these would look good along the oklahoma river? we are not that desperate for energy

[CuatrodeMayo]

I dont beleive anyone wants to sit and stare at a windfarm and consider it "a nice view."

I do. I would kill for that kind of view. They are beautiful.

[russellc]

A good place would be the railyard south of Crossroads Mall. It is right next to I-35 but there isn't much development there, and probably won't be for a long time.

[kevinpate]

or the eastern and western ends of the CR parking lot for that matter.

[muzique808]

I'd put one up in my back yard if the city would let me!

[bombermwc]

Well just because we have wind power, doesn't mean it has to be the normal blade system. We can use the circular systems as show in Elliot's design of the turbonic tower. Slap one of those puppies on the top of the roof and let 'er go.

That way there's no bird killer, it doesnt matter which way the wind is blowing from, and it works 24/7.

[gmwise]

Good point Bomber

[airplane777]

Maybe they could place a few wind turbines by the Television antenna farm.

[Levi]

Studies have been completed in Oklahoma for wind patterns that are best suited for the generation of power. From that study it appears that there is very little, if any, useable wind for large scale power generation anywhere east of the Watonga area or so.

One of the things that is critical for a (large) wind generator is that the level/quality of wind be consistant from the lowest to the highest point on the blade section; without a substantial amount of erratic shifting or gusting. The GE generators at the Centennial farm, owned by OG&E, have a 60 ton nacelle with a 40 ton blade section. If the level of wind force at the top of the blade rotation was greater than at the bottom for instance, it would put tremendous stress on the shaft. And these generators have a smaller diameter blade rotation than the Siemens generators built at the OU Spirit facility.

The reason why you see so many generators built in a single area is because individually they produce very little power. The generators at Centennial are only 1.2 megawatts each. I believe the generators at OU Spirit are slightly larger at just over 2 megawatts each (2.3 I believe, but I'll have to double check). In comparison, an average generator at a gas fired plant is around 500 megawatts each - and typically there are multiple generators at a power plant. It takes a large number of wind turbines to produce enough power to distribute.

[metro]

FYI the Governor's Mansion got one a few months back (1st Governor's Mansion in the US) to go off grid. So the the Armory on NE23rd. There were articles in the paper a few months ago, but I never saw a thread posted on OKCTalk about it. You can see them both from I-235 at 23rd.

[architect5311]

I do. I would kill for that kind of view. They are beautiful.

Has anyone been down to Lawton lately? There is a wind farm fronting the Mt. Scott area and it continues on as far as you can see to the horizon. The structures are sporatically located and detracts from the spectacular view of the area.

[Dustin]

Has anyone been down to Lawton lately? There is a wind farm fronting the Mt. Scott area and it continues on as far as you can see to the horizon. The structures are sporatically located and detracts from the spectacular view of the area.

Everytime we go to Meers we see them.. I think they're awesome!

[mugofbeer]

IMO, in general, the urban area is not the place for large wind turbines. The exception might be an established industrial warehouse area where you are far from any residential areas.

[icecold]

yea believe it or not pelicans do visit this state. i actually saw a couple this morning on thunderbird while i was duck hunting.

Oh ya they do. Hell, we have a festival for them every year at Grand Lake.

Pelican Festival

[CuatrodeMayo]

Has anyone been down to Lawton lately? There is a wind farm fronting the Mt. Scott area and it continues on as far as you can see to the horizon. The structures are sporatically located and detracts from the spectacular view of the area.

I think they look quite attractive scattered along the ridge lines of the distant hills.