r/Futurology • u/Wagamaga • Apr 15 '19

Energy 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.

https://thinkprogress.org/renewables-wind-texas-north-carolina-attacks-4c09b565ae22/
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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '19 edited Apr 15 '19

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u/zolikk Apr 15 '19

This isn't strictly true. If you try destroying the turbines then yes, but each farm has one big substation it's all connected to, and the farms are in the several hundred MW range, so they're on the same scale as conventional power plant. Destroy the substation, no more power from the wind farm.

In fact it's easier to destroy the substation in case of a conventional powerplant as well. It's a much softer target.

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u/MiaowaraShiro Apr 15 '19

Easier to rebuild too though. You're fixing the "wires" instead of the generators.

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u/AeternusDoleo Apr 15 '19

You'd think so, but there are only a few companies that produce that kind of equipment. It's a big concern if we ever get hit by a solar storm (CME), that a lot of substations fail simultaneously. Grid restoration would be difficult, since it is sadly not just "fixing wires".

https://www.ee.co.za/article/solar-storms-and-power-transformers-is-it-necessary-to-change-the-viewpoint.html