A Mighty Wind.

We have two wind turbines here in Northfield and I have become fascinated with them. I am learning about their inner workings, and finding them very similar to airplanes!

Over the past few years, I have looked down from my plane and counted hundreds of wind turbines in a remote area in southwestern Minnesota


So this weekend I was driving back from South Dakota and took a little detour to photograph the wind turbines clustered on high ground near Lake Benton, MN. This area is the WINDIEST area in Minnesota with reliable sustained winds.

There are over 250 wind turbines in this part of Minnesota on various private wind farms. Most are accessible by dirt roads, but I don't recommend you trespass on private land to visit them. They are best viewed from a distance I think.

Having said that........

Yep, that's my truck after driving across the open prairie to get onto this ridgeline and photograph some of these beautiful machines. It was -2 degrees at the time.

(I my defense, I NEVER actually enter a single area that was posted no trespassing. That includes this spot shown here.)

Most wind turbines stand about 257 feet tall and weigh 196,000 pounds. Each turbine has 3 blades with a rotor diameter of approx 160 feet, and can supply the annual electricity needs of 250 homes.

This wind farm now accumulatively offsets over a billion pounds of carbon dioxide and over 450,000 tons of coal.

With large wind turbines the voltage generated is usually 690 Volts(AC). The current is subsequently sent through a transformer next to the wind turbine (or inside the tower) to raise the voltage to somewhere between 10,000 and 30,000 volts, depending on the local electrical grid.


The owners of the wind farms sell the power to the electric company.

I saw several sub-stations where power is routed from the wind turbines and enters the electrical grid.


My favorite part of this visit to the wind farm was the whoosh-whoosh-whoosh sound the wind turbines made. But when you get closer, you can also here the generators wining inside....their pitch changing ever so slightly with the blowing of the wind.

(Did I mention it was windy and -2 degrees?)