Oh that makes sense. The blades are on hydraulics and only lifted when necessary rather than hoping a gust won’t arrive the whole time.
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Do none of these roads have power lines over them? Though in the second picture, I’m seeing what looks like cut lines in the upper left corner…
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One of the many advantages of not having above-ground electric and telecom systems. Europe is way ahead of the US on this.
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Or they could be temporarily unhooked through coordination with the power company.
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Wait until they get to the part of the road where a crazy old Spaniard threatens them with a lance and insists they shall not pass.
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I saw one last year drive through Austin and got stuck making a turn on an overpass while trying to make it back onto the highway. Obvs not as big as the one in the article but still pretty large
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Yep. The disbelievers are just tilting at windmills.
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I remember my first visit to CR about 15 years ago we took the road from Liberia to Tamarindo at night. The road was so dusty and full of potholes we could barely see 20m ahead.
It’s improved somewhat since then. It’s at least mostly paved now although they managed to keep the potholes.
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I had a similar experience in December 2015, taking I-10 from Texas out to San Diego on my bicycle. It made me feel so tiny.
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If you look closely, there’s a crumpled basin stuck to one of the truck tires.
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You wait ages for one turbine blade to come along and then three arrive all at once!
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Are they, by chance, travelling to see a certain sculpture on a hillside in Pernambuco?
Reminds me of the tank scene in the 1981 movie Montenegro. Only bigger. A scale not seen since yesterday.
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and the trucks all combine to form turbine voltron.
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This makes sense. More than the wind I was trying to figure out how they planned a long distance route that somehow never had any overhead power lines to deal with. This truck would even have to worry about high voltage lines when the blade is in the up position.
I once saw a piece of heavy industrial machinery that was being moved across the plains of Canada. They had to move it in the dead of winter because it was too heavy for many of the bridges on the route, so they would have it cross the frozen creek instead. It was also two lanes wide and moved at about 5kph. They had a special rig to push up on power lines to let it squeeze under.
I remember it was on a giant flatbed with what looked kind of like hundreds of airplane landing gear assemblies underneath in a big grid. Apparently each one was individually controllable, both for turn and in height. Power was provided by a small fleet of semi trucks chained to one side like a giganic stagecoach. My dad said that the tarp they used to cover it for transport was custom made and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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Yeah, that’s what I’m assuming. You don’t do a run like that without careful coordination with the power company, because there are inevitably going to be issues. Still, taking down the lines seems like it would be a big deal.
The weight is pushing down on the rig, rather than lifting up. The blade is fixed to the rear of the vehicle and projects over the cab- I think. Now I’m doubting myself.
I’m wondering who took these pictures and how. I assume they were taken by drone but is there someone on the team following along with a drone or what’s the story here?
Those were my exact words as well! I was struggling to parse what I was seeing.
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Here’s the same company transporting the whole kit including the stand (in sections), not using the same method to transport the blades.
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It’s SO ridiculous! They could EASILY raise that bridge 50 or 60 meters!
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