Hell hath no fury like that of a wind turbine scorned. The wind turbine on Rottnest Island has taken to Twitter for its revenge on Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the anti-wind lobby.
In June, the Prime Minister made his feelings known about wind power.
“When I’ve been up close to these wind farms, there’s no doubt, not only are they visually awful, they make a lot of noise,” said the PM; who went on to state, “Frankly it’s right and proper we’ve reduced the Renewable Energy Target because as things stood there was going to be an explosion of these things right around our country.”
Apparently, Mr. Abbott’s close encounters with wind power amounted to one wind turbine on Rottnest Island.
Installed in 2004, Rottnest Island’s wind turbine produces around 35% of the Islands’ power needs, saving approximately 430,000 litres of diesel a year. The electricity generated supplies all the power required for the Island’s desalination plant.
The “Rotto” wind turbine was hurt by the PM’s comments, as any self-respecting wind turbine and productive member of society would be. RottnestWindTurbine (@Rottoturbine) was subsequently hatched on Twitter.
Rotturbine has been quite prolific – 1,353 tweets and retweets so far – and has attracted more than 760 followers at the time of writing.
In addition to a series of reprimands directed at Prime Minister Abbott, the turbine also has others in its sights; including the anti-wind group, Waubra Foundation.
Senator Nick Xenophon also gets special attention.
Rotturbine is also posting links to other wind energy related news. Recently, it highlighted a report stating a study of the Waterloo Wind Farm had found noise complaints occurred even when the wind turbines were shut off.
Rottoturbine may be rapidly evolving into the new poster child for the Australian wind industry. Other wind farms are taking note and offering their support.
Wind power technology has come a long way; but thankfully not to the point of a Terminator-type self-awareness. It appears the Rottoturbine account was started up by a man from Perth tired of wind power being dumped on and frustrated by debunked myths continuing to be perpetuated.
Image credit: Rottnest Island Authority.
