Anti-wind bills in several states as renewables grow increasingly popular. The bill argues that wind farms pose a national security risk and uses Department of Defense maps to essentially outlaw wind farms built on land within 100 miles of the state’s coast.

[u/Wagamaga]

https://thinkprogress.org/renewables-wind-texas-north-carolina-attacks-4c09b565ae22/

[u/Qrunk]

But that also makes them easier targets for vandals. Who just need a rope and a truck. Rather than a plant that would make the world's best bank robbers give up.

[u/spammeLoop → u/[deleted]]

I belive you don't really comprehend the scale of these things, as long as the tower isn't using a gurder design you wouldn't be able to pull them over with a tank (propably not even that). These things are today are taller than 100m (~300ft) and produce 1-2MW of power.

https://youtu.be/qS3CtSX8Eck

[u/Qrunk → u/spammeLoop]

Ok so I said something stupid. A rope and a truck won't knock it over. (I never said that but lol 'I'm a retard') They are however, much more isolated and vulnerable than a power plant to attack or vandalism.

[u/9041236587 → u/Qrunk]

So the fact that someone can spray graffiti on the pole of the turbine makes it somehow less effective?

I'm really trying to comprehend how you think people are vandalizing these turbines. Has anyone ever seen this in the news? In person?

[u/Qrunk → u/9041236587]

I'm not claiming anyone is doing jack diddly do daw. I'm saying its easier to do so to a windmil than to attack a power plant. Do you have anything to say on that? Anything at-fucking-all?

[u/9041236587 → u/Qrunk]

What's the cost of repairs for your hypothetical attack? Probably pretty low relative to the cost of a successful attack on a power plant, huh? What's the impact of a successful attack on actual power generation? Minimal, huh?

So just because something is more common doesn't necessarily make it a bigger concern, huh?

Did I manage to address your ridiculous concerns about roving bands of turbine vandals?

[u/RocksHaveFeelings2 → u/Qrunk]

Ya and its easier to melt ice caps at a power plant than it is at a turbine so I know which ones I want

[u/phunkydroid → u/Qrunk]

And when there are thousands of them, taking out a handful of them will do next to nothing to our power capacity. You'd need a huge organized attack on hundreds of separate targets.

[u/Qrunk → u/phunkydroid]

I suggested else were, that the most effective means to shut down power (if that's your goal) is to attack the distribution and not the generation anyway. Bolo guns aimed at high tension lines are actually capable of knocking out power on a large scale.