The wilderness of Patagonia is as rugged as it gets.
But the previously untouched, semi-arid steppe land now hosts 636-foot energy giants.
Engineers expected that wildlife would be so terrified they would leave and never return. But incredibly, a band of cute, fuzzy mammals claimed the high-tech site as a haven.
They weren’t at all fazed by the enormous turning blades and constant, invasive mechanical hum.
Which species just moved into a wind farm?
Giants in Patagonia: High-tech marvels in the deep wilderness
Patagonia’s expansive El LLano plateau is the site of the 24,700-acre Aluar Wind Farm.
Construction was more active and intense than it would normally be.
During the concrete-pouring phase, workers had to pour 19,000 cubic feet of material. And they had to pull it off in one non-stop rotating shift.
This was the only way to secure the massive Vestas turbines against the hectic southern winds of the area.
15 miles of high-voltage lines also had to be run to Argentina’s main aluminum smelter.
But environmental impact assessment (EIA) findings were surprising, to say the least.
Computer models were applied to the noise levels around the turbines, and it was expected that they would be significant. On the contrary, the sound is below the 45 dBA annoyance threshold. And this is long before any humans are in earshot.
The soils and native brushwood are self-healing in the peace, returning to the flourishing levels they held pre-installation.
An obvious shift in the ways of Patagonian wildlife
The Patagonian steppe site, although seemingly empty, was highly regulated. Noise and shadows were tracked all the way with intense EIAs and smart computer modeling.
The results were flawless beyond expectation.
The noise levels remained low, and blade shadows didn’t once breach the legal limits. Not a single public complaint has been lodged, and the farm’s track record is perfect.
This is mostly because there are so few people around in the first place.
But this lack of traffic left a vacuum. And a group of nomadic, social critters moved in to fill the void, says the Government of Chubut.
It turns out that the human-free zone has become prime real estate for one group of normally nomadic but super social creatures.
The constant, although low, noise and impossible-to-ignore 636-foot blade movements above are of no consequence to them. A refuge free of humans, predators, and fences was a dream location.
What mammal is so resilient that it thrives in the shadows of a giant energy project?
A wind farm’s new neighbors: Meet the guanacos
The cute, furry animal that’s decided that wind turbines are friends is the elegant guanaco.
These large South American camelids are close family to llamas and kings of the Patagonian steppe.
But what made them move into an industrial power zone?
The answer lies in the energy project’s official EIAs.
Researchers picked up that the wind farm area features a highly stable soil constitution. More importantly, the native Patagonian flora is recovering well enough to offer great grazing for guanacos.
A happy accident between green infrastructure and nature
By legally fencing off this sprawling zone, Aluar accidentally did something wonderful by blocking out poachers, illegal hunters, and aggressive domestic livestock.
The guanacos did not see a scary, high-tech industrial plant with spinning 636-foot blades.
They saw a pristine, secure, human-free wildlife sanctuary.
Today, serene herds graze in peace beneath the gentle rotation of clean-energy giants. It is a stunning reminder of how green infrastructure can inadvertently give nature its home back.
Who knew a massive energy farm could double as the ultimate safe haven for Patagonia’s most iconic wild residents?