Maple Ridge Wind Farm

On the drive back from the cottage, we go through Lowville, NY, and see this vista. Click on the picture, and you will get a sense of the scale of the wind farm on the ridge just west of Lowville. Some 200 of these blade towers seem to go on forever. It is the largest such installation east of the Mississippi and generates some 300 mega-watts of electricity that is fed in the New York State power grid.

The poles vary in height from about 50 feet to over 200 feet high. The farmers in the area receive a substantial income from each unit on their land. As almost all of this area is dairy farm production, you see many new barns and tractors evident as a result of the extra cash.







Here the view is toward the East, and a left click will show the foot hills of the Adirondacks along with a closer picture of the wind collectors against the blue sky and puffy clouds.







The towers seem to be set at different heights and angles. We suspect it represents a function of known wind directions and so as not to interfere with currents and eddys of neighboring units. All and all, it is pretty impressive, and we recommend that your next trip to the North Country include a visit. We wish these came in a smaller residential size, and we would get one in a hurry. We bet such a day is not far away!!