A House subcommittee advanced a bill this week that would make a significant change to those constant, blinking red lights found on wind turbines all over the state.
We’ve all been there: driving the state highways at night and see the blinking lights of wind turbines far off in the distance. Personally, they don’t bother me whatsoever, but I know folks with astigmatism can find themselves disoriented. However, the utility of those wind turbine lights is important: they’re for pilots to gauge how high they’re flying and, of course, so they don’t strike one of those structures.
Could the Blinking Lights on Wind Turbines Disappear Soon?:
House File 2081 would require new wind farms to be constructed with “sensor-based lights,” with existing turbines to be retrofitted with said lights by 2028. The lights would activate when an aircraft is in the vicinity before turning off when it’s out of range, so to speak.
The bill is the product of Rep. Dean Fisher (R-Montour), who claimed landowners in his district have been vocalizing their frustrations about the lights following recent construction of a conversion facility built in Tama County, per The Des Moines Register:…