dolch said:

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And then there are all the solar panel fields…. Another bad situation.

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True, but at least the entire county isn't forced to look at those from 27 miles away.

alvtimes said:

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Seems Ive heard or read that every turbine requires an annuity? (possibly not the right term) to disassemble. Set up in such a way that a bankruptcy wont leave the landowner in a huge bind. Surely someone here can confirm or dispute this?????

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I've heard that there is some kind of fund they pay into in order to make sure that the money is there to take them down and cart them off.

There was one small windfarm around here that shut down after a few years that has been removed and at least some cleanup. In that case, I understand that it was because the manufacturer went out of business and so the parts and supplies necessary to keep them running became impossible to keep in stock.

JobSecurity said:

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Same as anything else, if it's profitable it will stay operational. The need for electricity is increasing so it isn't a potential technological obsolescence issue like your telephone example.

Most modern installations have a design life of 30-40 years after which they're decommissioned or repowered (new turbines installed). Most newer facilities have a decommissioning bond held at the project incorporation level to guarantee those funds are available when the time comes.

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The purpose of wind turbines is not to produce electricity, but to mine tax credits. Once the tax credits run out, is there any profit to keep them running?

Toward the end of my career, I worked for an alternative energy company and constructed well over 1000 wind turbines over 4-5 years in Texas, Indiana, Idaho, Kansas, PA, and more.. The previous post is fairly representative, although all turbine manufacturer bases and peds are different to some degree. You can clearly see here the ped is NOT below grade, certainly not 6'. Additionally, it is massively connected to the base as you might expect to support the tower/nacelle, blades, etc. The ped, and bolt cage are securely attached to the base which has a massive amount of rebar.

I've never decommissioned one but I would expect it to be very difficult.