Wind Toys

I have always been interested in the Wind Farms of Southern Aberta, so I headed out early, and made my way to the McBride Wind Farm, that overlooks the eastern slope of The Canadian Rockies. The McBride Wind Farm is located 8km south and west of Fort Macleod. The farm's 114 wind turbines are capable of producing approximately 225,000 MHW/year of electricity, which is enough to power more than 32,000 homes annually.
The 660kw turbines stand on 50meter(164ft) towers. they have a elevator to access the turbine housing. If you look over the hood of my truck, you can get a feel for the size of the turbines, based on the man door at the base.
The diameter of the 3-bladed turbine is 47meters(154ft).
The turbines generate power from windspeeds as low as 8 mph. For reasons of safety, the turbine blades are feathered and generation stops at 55mph.
I understand there are people of the opinion, the wind turbines are a blight on the landscape. With the cost of energy (oil) going nowhere but up, I suspect we will see more wind turbines in our future. The McBride Wind Farm, is the largest wind farm in Canada.