Wind turbines must be transported from manufacturer to wind farm, a potentially difficult task because of their size. The tallest wind turbine tower at the time this was written was over 700 feet high, or as high as a 70-story building. (That one’s in Denmark.) The largest individual wind turbine blade (so far) is over 240 feet long, almost as long as an American football field.
One firm that handles wind turbines before installation is Transportation Partners and Logistics, a Wyoming-based company with a large wind turbine storage and transportation facility (shown in the photos) on the east side of Garden City and next to Route 50.
Although wind turbines appear to rotate at a stately pace, the tips of the blades are actually moving very fast. The movement of the blades through the air makes noise. This noise annoys people, but there is hope. Researchers report having figured out what it is about an owl’s wings that enables it to fly so silently. Next step: try the owl approach on wind turbine blades.