Miles O’Brien:
These giant offshore wind turbines are twice the height of those built on land. Their blades are twice as long. That bigger sweep, combined with stronger wind speeds this far from land, allows them to generate more energy.
Inside the turbine, magnets rotate past coils of wire, generating electricity, which runs down through buried wires back to the grid, electricity out of thin air.
Big as they are, the windmills are 15 miles offshore, too far to see from terra firma.
Cessna 808, cleared for takeoff from runway five.
So, photographer Rob Gourley (ph) and I flew out to take a look.
Providence 55-808, we’re going to do some photo work at the wind turbines out there. Requesting flight (Inaudible)
We flew due south of Martha’s Vineyard, and there they were. You can’t miss them.
The size of these turbines is pretty stunning. Each of those blades is more than a football field, so, combined, it’s two football fields in diameter. Plus, it’s sitting up pretty high as it is.
It was a very calm day in June, so they were idle. They remain idle now after a manufacturing flaw caused the structural failure of a blade in July. Debris fell into the ocean, leading to some beach closures. The blade was manufactured by GE Vernova, which blames insufficient bonding during production at its facility in Gaspe, Canada.
The company says it is inspecting the approximately 150 offshore wind blades produced at that plant to ensure no similar defects are present. Construction has resumed, but it gave offshore wind farm opponents more grist for their mill. Over the years, Donald Trump has led the chorus, trashing turbines since at least 2006, when a proposal to build windmills near his golf course in Scotland first surfaced.
Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. President-Elect: It’s like a graveyard for birds.
