long exposure windmills

I do a lot of night stuff and they can be tricky in the moonlight, the blades just disappear after a few rotations.

They're not dead, they're resting. (Against a big blue wall.)

Real Truman Show vibes

Pictures like this were the bane of my existence when I built wind farms. "The blades go so fast they're a blur! Imagine the noise!"

This must be an old photo as there are still some Kenetechs running in the background

(not) Fun Fact: the NASA MOD-5B experimental wind turbine installed in Hawaiʻi had blade tips that could occasionally go trans-sonic. I can't imagine the noise that made. Mercifully, we neither do two bladed nor downwind turbines any more

@scruss I can't imagine the noise, either. That would be wild.

@scruss I absolutely love "inside baseball" comments like "This must be an old photo as there are still some Kenetechs running in the background"

this is wonderful

@caitlinburke I was surprised that this photo was from 2019: although it shows up in a lot of stock photo collections, the reddit user name matches the photographer, Garrett Suhrie.

The turbines that are not working are the ones that really stand out. I guess these ancient ones on Tehachapi Ridge still have their crazy-delicious tax benefit contract as long as they can keep them running. These turbines are roughly 30 years old, and I'm sure a few people are paid quite well to keep them running

Kenetech became Zond, who became Enron Wind (yeah, *those* guys) who were bought up in the fire sale by GE

The shadows on the blades!

@scruss driving through those hills it's like seeing the history of turbines.