Palm Springs Windmills

Palm Springs Windmills
Adjacent to Highway 111 and the I-10
Freeway just northwest of Palm Springs
Tour The Palm Springs Windmills!

Immortalized in the helicopter chase in the movie Mission Impossible III starring Tom Cruise, 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. They require average wind speeds of at least 21 km/h (13 mph). The largest of these windmills stands 328 feet tall with blades half the length of an American football field (150 feet). The compartments at the top containing the generator, hub and gearbox weigh 30,000 to 45,000 pounds.

A wind turbine’s cost can range upwards to $300,000 and can produce 300 kilowatts – the amount of electricity used by a typical household in a month. Almost all of the currently installed wind electric generation capacity is in California. The high-tech megatowers are engineered in cooperation with NASA and nursed by federal and state subsidies. This 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.

The North Wind 250 is an advanced technology, 250 kW wind turbine developed by the New World Power Technology Company under the DOE Wind Turbine Development Program. The two-bladed, upwind turbine uses aircraft-style aileron controls that deploy in high winds to smooth out energy spikes.

PalmSprings.com: The Official Guide to Palm Springs, California!