I predict that in the future we will have these rusty relics littering the countryside everywhere when it becomes obvious they are not economically viable without government subsidy. There will likely not even be an economically viable option to remove these ugly things. It will cost to much to remove, and no recycling benefit. It will look like something out of a doomsday movie, dilapidated high tech monstrosities scattered about in the primitive wild-lands.
No, there will be a government, ie taxpayer funded superfund to enrich democratic butt boys to dismantle and cleanup the area when it’s all said and done. At about 200 times the actual cost.
not to mention they are so ugly....
drive down the beautiful Gorge on the Columbia and see these things there...hideous...
I lived in a town where someone wanted to put in a wind farm (by renting space from landowners).
At their presentation to the town, I realized the business model was a chain of ownership:
- Someone buys the property rights, selling that to
- Someone builds the turbines, selling that to
- Someone operates the turbines for actual electricity production, selling that to
- Someone else takes over operation, selling that to
- Someone takes on the end-of-life stage dismantling turbines beyond expected viable maintenance period, selling that to
- Someone scrapping the equipment removing it from the land, selling that to
- Someone reclaiming the land.
The incentive is how you can make a buck selling a stage to the next stage owner. Those getting the turbines built don’t care what it produces, just how fast the builders can sell out.