Landfill May Be Next Stop After Lightning Blows Up Turbine Blade Near Cheyenne

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Landfill May Be Next Stop After Lightning Blows Up Turbine Blade Near Cheyenne



A half-shredded blade hanging from a wind turbine west of Cheyenne is catching attention from the thousands of drivers who go past it along Interstate 80. It was nearly torn in half by a bolt of lightning, and its next stop could be a Wyoming landfill.

Pat Maio
July 30, 2024
4 min read

A half-shredded blade hanging from a wind turbine just off Interstate 80 west of Cheyenne is a reminder that these towering electricity generators are not immune to the sometimes-violent hail and lightning storms that roll through southeastern Wyoming.

A single wind turbine tower with a destroyed blade hangs from the nacelle of one of those just a few hundred feet north of I-80.

It’s hard to miss. … It’s half the size of a 130-foot-long blade and has what looks like hundreds of hair-like strands of rope left behind when lightning blasted the fiberglass-reinforced material.

Laurie Farkas, a spokeswoman for Black Hills Energy, confirmed that the blade was damaged by a lightning strike July 17 at the Corriedale wind farm west of Cheyenne.
The wind farm is jointly owned by Black Hills Energy’s electric utilities in South Dakota and Wyoming.

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