Abandoned wind turbine blades litter southern Minnesota field

Last week, Walker Orenstein of the Star Tribune reported on a remarkable situation in Grand Meadow, Minnesota. He reports from a neighbor’s point of view:

Trucks dropped off more than 100 fiberglass turbine blades on the empty lot next door in 2020, haphazardly stacked to the edge of Richardson’s property. Almost four years later, the mountain of old wind parts — which is visible on Google Earth — is still there.

The entire saga is so strange and twisted, it deserves your attention. Here is the version on the Star Tribune website. Another site reprints it, here.

Orenstein reports that neighbors are seeking relief from the eyesore through state utility regulators:

Frustrated city leaders have tried every angle they can think of to clear the lot, pressuring the property owner, the recycling company, and now powerful state regulators on the Public Utilities Commission (PUC).

The PUC, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC), serves as the state’s electric utility regulator. As it happens, the MPUC’s website is down this weekend.

Reconstructing the timeline:

Orenstein reports that Xcel Energy (Minnesota’s largest electric utility) owns the wind farm in question. Xcel contracted with a Florida company, NextEra Energy, to rebuild the facility. NextEra contracted with a third company, the Spanish-owned Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, to recycle the blades into usable material.

To oversimplify, wind turbine blades are like giant fiberglass airplane wings. From our past reporting, you may have seen blades littering landfills in desolate areas of South Dakota and Wyoming.

The Spanish company, in turn, subcontracted with a recycling company, RiverCap Ventures of Ohio. RiverCap appears to be the outfit that abandoned the blades in that Mower County field. In any event, RiverCap went out of business and a successor firm, Canvus, claims that they don’t have the cash to move the blades.

The property sits on land owned by two prominent local brothers.

And what’s Xcel’s responsibility? Orenstein reports:

Xcel Energy now owns the wind farm, but the company says it can’t move the blades because it doesn’t own them and described the situation as “isolated.” Xcel is still sensitive to the issue because the blade junk is not exactly building goodwill in a wind-rich area.

So, the blamestorming continues.

As to the reference to a “wind-rich area,” Xcel owns another wind farm nearby:

The Ben Fowke Wind Energy Center (renamed after a former Xcel CEO) is another 100 MW facility located in Mower County in southeast Minnesota.

This facility was first built in 2008. About a dozen years later, the idea took hold to replace the existing wind turbines with newer equipment. Believe it or not, the whole idea was pitched as a COVID-relief measure. The Fillmore County Journal reported in 2021:

The Grand Meadow Wind Farm repowering project was part of a slate of projects Xcel Energy proposed in response to a Commission request for utility investments that would aid in the state’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, while providing utility system benefits.

From experience, though, I feel highly confident in stating that Xcel was fully compensated (via ratepayers) for the full costs of this project, including the disposal of used equipment.

Coincidentally, the Wall Street Journal had an article this weekend about a similar situation off of the Atlantic coast of Massachusetts. The Journal reports:

A large project off the coast of Massachusetts, called Vineyard Wind, remains at a standstill following an accident that dropped a massive turbine blade into the ocean last month and washed chunks of debris onto Nantucket beaches.

And by “chunks of debris” they mean jagged shards of fiberglass. The Town and County of Nantucket government has a webpage devoted to the “Vinyard Wind Turbine Blade Crisis,” featuring daily updates. Yesterday’s update is here.

The Town cautioned:

In some areas, significant sharp debris has been observed floating in the water and is often hidden beneath the surface. Small fragments along the shoreline can pose a considerable hazard to swimmers and beachgoers. As a precautionary measure, all beaches on the south shore have been closed to swimming until further notice. The Town advises beach visitors to leave pets at home and wear appropriate footwear when walking along the beach.

[Emphasis in the original.] The Town reminds the island’s residents:

Reminder to the public

DO NOT put any debris in your home garbage.

• DO NOT bring the debris to the landfill.
• DO notify the proper authorities immediately if you have debris so they can remove it for analysis and proper disposal. 

Only trained employees or contractors are responsible for collecting and removing the debris.

A photo credited to the Town of Nantucket:

Clean and green energy, they tell me.