The Palm Springs windmills are an increasingly popular alternative source of energy. Wind turbine generators are a type of windmill that produces electricity by harnessing the wind. The wind farm on the San Gorgonio Mountain Pass in the San Bernadino Mountains contains more than 4000 separate windmills and provides enough electricity to power Palm Springs and the entire Coachella Valley.[1]
Coverage[]
The Palm Springs Wind Farm is featured in Holiday Hell.
It was introduced in 1 week after people when traffic lights still blink and air conditioners still hum in Palm Springs thanks to the city's reliance on a massive forest of wind turbines. The show gave information that 4,000 of the wind turbines still spin outside the resort city and as long as the wind pushes the blades, electricity keeps pumping out. The windmills appear very simple but looks can be deceiving. Travis Taylor stated that the wind turbine is a fairly complicated beast because there's wind speed measuring sensors and wind direction measuring sensors where it control the pitches of the blades to produce the right amount of power all the time. However, high tech demands high maintenance. Travis Taylor stated that it have lubricants and hydraulic fluids like a car where it have to change oil often or the motor's seize up which can be the same thing on the wind turbines if the oil is not replenish, the lubricants, and hydraulic fluids, it'll stop working. After a week, the blades still spin which generates thousands of kilowatts every hour, day, and time the wind blows. However, the winds of destruction are beginning to howl over the horizon.
The blades spin fast and creates vibration.
Its fate is revealed in 1 year after people when the wind turbine farms still tower over the desert outside Palm Springs, California but the wind turbines face a worse enemy than rust, the wind itself. Butch Mederos stated that the wind turbines are designed for specific range of wind velocities and if these are exceeded, the wind turbine will spin at such a high speed that it will rip itself apart. Its a reason why the windmills were designed with automatic braking systems in order to shutdown during extremely high winds. The episode questions what if the systems fail before answering to itself that it happened in Denmark in 2008 when extreme winds cause the blades to spin out of control, destroying the turbine in spectacular fashion. After a year without maintenance, acres of power-producing wind turbines are vulnerable to the same fate. Butch Mederos stated that the first time an 100 mile an hour wind comes through, the rotor's would spin faster than it should which creates vibration and the turbine's start to come apart while Travis Taylor stated that the wind turbines would fly off and when it hit the ground, it'll have dust flying, parts flying everywhere, and will have all sorts of mayhem. One after another, each wind turbines spins faster as it exceed velocities and shatters.
In 20 years after people, the power in Palm Springs went out long ago when the wind turbines shatters. However only a few remains but it can only power less and the city is already in ruins.
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References[]
- ↑ Palm Springs Website | Attractions: Windmills