Eli5: windmills
Why is it that in an entire group of windmills all facing the same direction and all right next to each other, you sometimes only see one or two moving and the other windmills aren’t moving at all?
I’m driving through California and noticed this, which is prompting my question. I would expect all of them should be turning, so I think they’re either immobilizing most of them, or manually spinning those windmills somehow. In either case, why? Or am I wrong in my assumptions?
In: 43
Wind turbines can be turned off. Other comments are correct but another aspect is who owns the land that the windmill is on.
If the government does not own it, they likely have to pay the owners for time that the windmill is on. If you have a specific number to hit, you turn off unnecessary windmills to save money.
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