No, this isn’t a Johnny Cash song.
A wind turbine burned in a ring of fiery smoke after being struck by lightning Friday in Crowell, Texas.
Video of the aftermath of the lightning strike shows the turbine still turning.
This is near Cromwell, OK. Brent Havins shot this video of a wind turbine that got struck by lightning. pic.twitter.com/jBjUNas0yc
— Mike Collier (@MikeCollierWX) July 22, 2022
Video footage shot by a local shows the turbine eventually slowing to a halt, with flames consuming an entire blade of the device.
There’s a big lightning storm here in Crowell, it just a turbine and it’s a goner ? pic.twitter.com/lobwMwTBKh
— Chris Lopez – MFFL ? (@MavsManiaac84) July 22, 2022
Debris falling from the turbine eventually falls to the ground, as the device finally stops spinning.
The Crowell Volunteer Fire Department responded to the fire.
The smoking loops that the struck turbine produced almost appeared as if they could’ve been produced on a movie set.
The loops at first were wild ? pic.twitter.com/2OE60q3CNZ
— Chris Lopez – MFFL ? (@MavsManiaac84) July 22, 2022
It’s not clear if anyone was hurt as a result of the lightning strike, or if any other property was damaged. KSAT-TV reported that the turbine is out in a field and no ag equipment was nearby.
The height of wind turbines can impose environmental risks.
In April, a wind turbine company admitted to killing 150 protected eagles with its wind turbines across the country since 2012.
ESI Energy LLC agreed to pay millions of dollars in restitution for killing the birds, and to develop a plan of action to mitigate the risks that their turbines pose to migrating birds.
Are wind turbines reliable?
More than two million people in Texas also suffered from power outages in February 2021, due in part to the failure of wind turbines when they became frozen in a storm.
Texas gets 23 percent of its energy from wind turbines. The turbines aren’t designed for extreme cold weather, which is rare in Texas.
The turbine isn’t the only piece of Texas energy infrastructure that has been damaged this year. A natural gas pipeline near Houston released a towering plume of flames earlier this month, with authorities forced to wait for the gas to burn out before moving in.
