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Altamont Pass wind farm
The Altamont Pass wind farm is located in the Altamont Pass of the Diablo Range in Northern California. It is one of the earliest wind farms in the United States. The first wind turbines were placed on the Altamont in the early 1980s by Fayette Manufacturing Corporation, on land owned by cattle rancher Joe Jess. The wind farm is composed of 4,930 relatively small wind turbines of various types, making it at one time the largest wind farm in the world in terms of capacity.
Altamont Pass is still one of the largest concentration of wind turbines in the world, with a capacity of 576 megawatts (MW), producing about 125 MW on average and 1.1 terawatt-hours (TWh) yearly. They were installed after the 1970s energy crisis in response to favorable tax policies for investors.[citation needed]
When the first windfarms appeared in 1981, on the Altamont hills alongside the Altamont Pass portion of the I-580 freeway, the appearance of the modern windmill generated media excitement and public interest. This portion of the freeway was an increasingly used corridor for growing the bedroom communities of Tracy, Lodi and Modesto serving the Bay Area of California (Oakland, San Francisco and Pleasanton). Daily commuters crowded past the otherwise barren cattle ranches for several hours each day.
By 1985, the Altamont Pass was crowded with over 26 different windfarms. The increased visibility from the nearby I-580 freeway, which had once sparked the media and community's interest, was now widely regarded as a growing eyesore.[citation needed] Successful windfarms at the Altamont Pass encouraged the development of further industrial wind areas in southern California. These windfarms, in the Tehachapi Pass, led to wider recognition, after windmills played a role as a prominent backdrop in several feature films of the mid- and late 1980s, including the 1985 film based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel Less than Zero, featuring Andrew McCarthy and Robert Downey, Jr.
Modern wind turbines and nuclear power plants kill about 0.3 to 0.4 birds per GWh generated, without climate change effects, in comparison with 5.18 birds per GWh with fossil fuels power plants. However, the small turbines used at Altamont in 2007 were dangerous to various raptors that hunt California ground squirrels in the area. In that year, 1,300 raptors were killed annually, among them 70 federally protected golden eagles. In total, 4,700 birds were killed annually.
The effects of the Altamont Pass wind farm on wildlife were exacerbated by its proximity to bird migration routes, its craggy landscape ideal for birds of prey, and its predominantly outdated turbine designs (as of 2013). As of 2013 it takes 15-34 Altamont Pass turbines to produce the same amount of electricity as one modern turbine. These outdated turbines are set 60-80 feet tall, the same height as bird flight paths.
Considered largely obsolete, these numerous small turbines are as of 2009 being gradually replaced with much larger and more cost-effective units. The larger units rotate at a much lower angular frequency to the previous turbines, and, being elevated higher, are less hazardous to the local wildlife, according to a report done for the Bonneville Power Administration.
As of 2010, a settlement has been reached between the Audubon Society, Californians for Renewable Energy and NextEra Energy Resources, who operate some 5,000 turbines in the area. Nearly half of the smaller turbines will be replaced by newer, more bird-friendly models. The project was expected to be complete by 2015 and included $2.5 million for raptor habitat restoration.
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Altamont Pass wind farm AI simulator
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Altamont Pass wind farm
The Altamont Pass wind farm is located in the Altamont Pass of the Diablo Range in Northern California. It is one of the earliest wind farms in the United States. The first wind turbines were placed on the Altamont in the early 1980s by Fayette Manufacturing Corporation, on land owned by cattle rancher Joe Jess. The wind farm is composed of 4,930 relatively small wind turbines of various types, making it at one time the largest wind farm in the world in terms of capacity.
Altamont Pass is still one of the largest concentration of wind turbines in the world, with a capacity of 576 megawatts (MW), producing about 125 MW on average and 1.1 terawatt-hours (TWh) yearly. They were installed after the 1970s energy crisis in response to favorable tax policies for investors.[citation needed]
When the first windfarms appeared in 1981, on the Altamont hills alongside the Altamont Pass portion of the I-580 freeway, the appearance of the modern windmill generated media excitement and public interest. This portion of the freeway was an increasingly used corridor for growing the bedroom communities of Tracy, Lodi and Modesto serving the Bay Area of California (Oakland, San Francisco and Pleasanton). Daily commuters crowded past the otherwise barren cattle ranches for several hours each day.
By 1985, the Altamont Pass was crowded with over 26 different windfarms. The increased visibility from the nearby I-580 freeway, which had once sparked the media and community's interest, was now widely regarded as a growing eyesore.[citation needed] Successful windfarms at the Altamont Pass encouraged the development of further industrial wind areas in southern California. These windfarms, in the Tehachapi Pass, led to wider recognition, after windmills played a role as a prominent backdrop in several feature films of the mid- and late 1980s, including the 1985 film based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel Less than Zero, featuring Andrew McCarthy and Robert Downey, Jr.
Modern wind turbines and nuclear power plants kill about 0.3 to 0.4 birds per GWh generated, without climate change effects, in comparison with 5.18 birds per GWh with fossil fuels power plants. However, the small turbines used at Altamont in 2007 were dangerous to various raptors that hunt California ground squirrels in the area. In that year, 1,300 raptors were killed annually, among them 70 federally protected golden eagles. In total, 4,700 birds were killed annually.
The effects of the Altamont Pass wind farm on wildlife were exacerbated by its proximity to bird migration routes, its craggy landscape ideal for birds of prey, and its predominantly outdated turbine designs (as of 2013). As of 2013 it takes 15-34 Altamont Pass turbines to produce the same amount of electricity as one modern turbine. These outdated turbines are set 60-80 feet tall, the same height as bird flight paths.
Considered largely obsolete, these numerous small turbines are as of 2009 being gradually replaced with much larger and more cost-effective units. The larger units rotate at a much lower angular frequency to the previous turbines, and, being elevated higher, are less hazardous to the local wildlife, according to a report done for the Bonneville Power Administration.
As of 2010, a settlement has been reached between the Audubon Society, Californians for Renewable Energy and NextEra Energy Resources, who operate some 5,000 turbines in the area. Nearly half of the smaller turbines will be replaced by newer, more bird-friendly models. The project was expected to be complete by 2015 and included $2.5 million for raptor habitat restoration.