Four years after Next Era started piling old wind turbine blades in a lot in Grand Meadow, Minnesota, the pile is finally being removed.
But it took the action of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to issue an order forcing Next Era to do something about the unsightly pile.
In recent days, workers finally started removing the blades that once were part of a wind farm near Grand Meadow. Now they are being transported to a recycling plant in Iowa.
( RENEE JONES SCHNEIDER • renee.jones@startribune.com)
The power provided by the wind farm might have been welcome by renewable energy supporters, but the inability to dispose of the old wind turbine blades is an indication of an unwanted byproduct of wind farms. We’ve reported on the growing problems of old wind farms across other states—Wyoming and Texas to name a few.
National Wind Watch quoted the Grand Meadow City administrator James Christian as stating, “People have been angry about it. They’ve been pretty mad that they weren’t supported to be here in the first place.”
He said there was a sense of relief to see the turbine blades finally going.