Abandoned Windmills and Defunct Architecture

Early World Technology: Eight Abandoned Windmills

By jcross in Abandoned Places, Architecture & Design, Technology & Futurism, Various Uncategorized

Windmills were one of humanity’s prime sources of electricity before the technological revolution. Monuments to the technology of simpler times, these structures come in all shapes in sizes, from massive stone giants to small steel towers. Here is a great collection of amazing shots of abandoned windmill photography!

Holland

(Image via sfu)

Holland is home to quite a few abandoned windmills. Somewhat ominous in appearance, these windmills sit along the roads in and out out of Holland and provide for some excellent scenery along the drive. their massive rotor runs straight through the tall stone shaft and sticks far out the opposite side for momentum and balance.

Greece

(Images via venividitravel, fineartamerica)

Situated on a hill in Greece, these windmills are quite scenic. Their blades have been removed and they no longer power the area they once did, however they are a part of the countries early history and have thus been preserved quite well. Judging by their size and girth, it is easy to imagine that these windmills most likely provided power to many country-side homes.

Rhode Island, USA

(Image via jamestownri)

Erected in 1787, this windmill served as a replacement for an earlier one that was destroyed in the Revolutionary War. It is located on Watson Farm in Jamestown Rhode Island. It has been very well maintained and retains its classic, colonial look. Hopefully it will continue to be taken care of and enjoyed for years to come.

South Point, Hawaii

(Image via ScottHaefner.com)

Located in South Point Hawaii, this windmill farm was erected in 1986. It has recently been shut down and abandoned and now fourteen of these giants stand just off of highway 11. Unfortunately, these windmills used to be able to power 10,000 island homes which now must consume traditional power. The farm is regarded as a spooky place to be!

Kansas, USA

(Image via recumbum abyss)

Overlooking Old West Lawrence Kansas, this dutch windmill looks like something out of a child’s fairytale. Its appearance is stunning, unique and demands to be studied. It is a the product of the combination of architectural art and practical utility. This particular windmill deserves to be maintained and could perhaps serve as a great restoration project.

Sweden

(Image via samandkacy)

Many of us have an affinity for old relics of architecture, and this once-proud windmill has been standing tall for several hundred years. Located in Goatland, Sweden, this structure was most likely used to power a large farm. It appears to have been well maintained over the years, which is suprising for its age. It’s blades are of peculiar design, but are efficiantly engineered to capture the wind well. The entire windmill is held sturdy by large wooden support beams extending off of the back, to prevent it from blowing itself over!

American Midwestern Plains

(Image via webshots)

Many small-farm windmills are strewn about America’s Midwestern plains. These are slightly different lookingthan the massive windmills shown earlier in this article. They are smaller and made primarily from aluminum. Surprisingly, several of these windmills can provide sufficiant power for an entire farm! These days, many of them have been abandoned in favor of modern power, yet they continue to attract area photographers looking to capture them before the earth has its way with their remains.

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Of course, those wind fueled turbines in South Point, Hawaii are not wind mills but in fact wind fueled turbines. A windmill is a mill for milling corn into flour. It is important for the dirty carbon fueled economic to constantly belittle wind fueled turbines as a medieval failed technology, so thanks for joining in there.

And yes, those windmills on the American Midwest plains are actually wind pumps, for pumping water, not for milling corn. Keep up the lazy attacks on using clean clean clean fuels like wind. ha ha ha, hahaha ha ha.

I think Jon is being a bit too pessimistic about this article. However, thanks for pointing out the subtle differences in the various devices for harnessing wind power.
The big question: why, especially in the case of South Point Hawaii, did they stop using wind power?

I went on a vacation to Hawaii over the summer and saw the windmill farm pictured above. We drove off the main highway and down what would be best described as a country road, not a highway. I would suggest a truck if you want to go down there. It is very hard to tell once you get down there if you are on public or private land. The wind mill farm was very cool to see, but the whole area felt like something out of a post apocalyptic movie.

The South Point site was shut down. Too costly, too much maintenance, too far behind the times. There is a replacement site putting out more power with better equipment now.

The wind powered pumps are still used frequently. I just put on in the back field for the horses since it was cheaper than running power out there. You see many of these abandoned simply because the farmers go out of business, which is why so many are on the plains. Farms and crops are more efficient these days, so there are fewer of them on marginal land like the Upper Plains.

In case anyone is curious about the Hawaiian wind farm.

It was built by HECO, the Hawaiian power company and abandoned in the early 90s due to tech issues but appears to be back online now.

Why it went offline:

It was older technology that went online in 1985. Westinghouse, the maker of the turbines, dropped out of wind energy manufacturing and didn’t offer upgrades. As parts ran out, maintenance went up and the old units aren’t nearly as efficient as new technology. The landowner, Campbell Estates, controls the property and hasn’t done anything with it. All while new wind farms are being built all over Hawaii.

Most Recent:

Apollo Energy Corporation purchased and repowered the retired Kamaoa Wind Farm which began commercial operation in 1987. Now owned and operated by Tawhiri Power LLC and renamed Pakini Nui Wind Farm, it consists of 14 General Electric turbines producing 21 megawatts. It was returned to service in April 2007. The purchase power agreement with Hawaii Electric Light Company was approved by the Public Utilities Commission on March 10, 2005. Kamaoa Wind Farm consisted of 37 Mitsubishi 250-kilowatt wind turbines capable of generating up to 9.3 megawatts.

Happy to see it is back online for many reasons. Not the least of which is that abandoned projects such as this support negative perceptions of renewables.
Also there is a several year back-order on new towers, and we all know that before you recycle you reuse. I wonder if any of the Stimulus is directed at rehabbing existing or abandoned “old-tech” installations such as Kamaoa?

Actually, Jon and others, farm windmills pumped water, generated electricity and some powered mills that ground grain. The term windmill was used as a generic for any such wind-driven device by the farmers who used them.

The article errs a bit that they were abandoned in favor of “modern” electricity. The Rural Electrification Authority (REA) set up poles and strung electrical wire throughout rural America, connecting farms to the grid. Farmers were forced, sometimes with deputy sheriffs standing by, to disconnect their wind-powered generators, allow the mounting of the electrical meter, and watch as REA installers hooked them up to the grid. Those who resisted were fined. The Amish, who had religious doctrine behind them, were able to avoid mandatory connection and retained the ability to generate their own electricity. It is ironic that today they are seen as forward-thinking and “green,” for avoiding the forced abandonment of self-generated electricity while they were ridiculed at the time for being “backwards.”

Thanks for the nice pictures. However, the annotations need a little improvement. The “Dutch “windmills are not from the Netherlands. The stone tower mill is most probalby from a Balkan area: Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, may be Poland. It could resemble some tower mills from France. The post mill originates from Belgium or the Northwestern part of France. The Netherlands has approx. some 1100 traditional windmills fully restored and functional. I do not agree with Jon that a traditional windmill is exclusively used for grinding corn. In nortwestern Europe mills were applied for other activities such as fulling, sawing, paper making, oil pressing etc. etc. The windmill on Gotland, Sweden, was most probably not used for powering a large farm, since this was not a custom until the 19 th century and even impossible considered its isolated position. In certain occasions windmills were used to power a farm, and then those windmills were located on the roof of a barn. In most other cases treadmills were applied.

Leo