Demolition of 90 wind turbines in New Mexico

[OnlinePoker]

They've salvaged out blades and parts from some of the turbines for reuse elsewhere, but this is how they take the rest down. The earliest this type of turbine was put into operation in the U.S. was in December 2002, so the maximum life this farm had was 18 years before being shut down and salvage operations beginning.

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[eppur_se_muova]

1. Worn out or obsolescent ?

It may be hard to find replacement parts for the oldest turbines, even if the blades and some parts of the drive trains are being re-used. If newer models are cheaper to maintain, it may not be worth it to keep the old ones running.

If they're not replacing these with new turbines in the same location, does that mean electrical demand has migrated ?? Or did they just decide there's a better location ?? NM is still installing lots of wind turbines.

[OnlinePoker]

2. Could be, or maybe insufficient wind.

According to this from Mitsubishi, these were specifically designed for low wind speed areas. It's possible they either didn't work as well as planned or there just wasn't enough wind to make them economical. I don't know where in New Mexico this was.

"New 1 000 kW wind turbine MWT-1000A for use in low speed wind areas. Up to now, wind-turbine power generators were assumed to be installed in areas with strong wind having the average annual wind speed of 8-10 m/s. MHI has developed a wind turbine for use in low speed wind areas to ensure substantial power generation and excellent cost performance even in places with comparatively weak wind with the average annual wind speed of 6-8 m/s(5)."

https://www.mhi.co.jp/technology/review/pdf/e413/e413170.pdf

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Thanks. There's always more variables than imagined. nt