Link between wind farms and frost
Waterloo and District Concerned Citizens Group
Following 3 years of consecutive severe frost damage in the Waterloo and surrounding area, the University of Adelaide are experimenting to find out if there is a link between wind turbines (which have been operating for just over 3 years) and frost.
To do this they set up a scale model of a Wind Farm and measured wind speed and temperature under normal conditions.
The results are alarming and concerning for agriculture!
Fact: Huge turbines lower air temperature!
The wind speed in the valley may be zero under normal frost conditions, but at the height of the turbines wind is turning them cooling the air further and mixing it with the already cold air in the valley. Because the landscape of the Waterloo area huge pools of very cold air are expanded and trapped and because of the pulsating action of the blades, this is forced down the valleys and up hillsides, explaining why frost damage has become so widespread and severe.
Frost damage is costing farmers millions of dollars of lost income and decreased food production. “Alarm bells” are certainly ringing regarding wind farms and their effect on agriculture.
Australian and in particular South Australian agriculture needs to be protected. Costly and inefficient Wind Farms and the proposed fracking industry pose real threats to vital, food production.
Regards
John Faint (Chair)
Waterloo & District Concerned Citizens Group
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/link-between-wind-farms-and-frost/