“And as far as the “post-industrial junk” language, well, if it costs too much to run the machines in the first place, then it definitely costs too much to uproot and remove them post-construction.”
Having been raised by a father who owned a couple of scrap yards, I can assure you that if those windmills are metal, and if clear title to them can be had, they will be scrapped.
Funny you mentioned the idea of salvage. The first thing one has to disassemble is the blade unit. The blades are all fiberglass and totally worthless as scrap. Disposing of those huge junk chunks will be impressively expensive not to mention the cost of the crane to get them down in one piece (blowing them loose is out of the question). The gearbox and generator unit might have some value if it was on the ground already but blowing the tower would eliminate any value except scrap.-————I wrote about this years ago saying that if you think we’re dependent on oil now just wait until we might be dependent on windmills. Currently we use a supertanker load of oil/year to make the blade material for windmills. It takes a second tanker load to process the first load. The blades don’t really last very long so the process must be continuous just to keep the current stuff running.————The only reasonable way windpower can ever be industrially reliable is if the energy can be stored at the time the wind blows then metered as needed. My favorite way to do this is to pump water out of a river uphill to a reservoir then generate hydropower as needed by giving the water back to the river——doesn’t lose fish, doesn’t lose water, doesn’t lose wind——but is way too much to expect from the democommiegreenweenies. Apologies if I’ve left anyone out.
All you’d need is a gas axe to severe the bolts at the base on the tower on a calm day.
Then wait for a windy day to push it over. Whammo, jackpot!
The cost of dismantling and transporting them to the recycling facility would probably outweigh any profit.