The sheer size and scale of wind turbines, which can stand over 240 meters tall and rotate at up to 320 kilometers per hour, is often used against them. Speaking in Britain’s House of Commons last year, Neil Parish, then an MP and chair of an influential environmental committee, expressed a typical view: "Why do people come to many of our great constituencies? Because they are beautiful,” he said. "Tourists love to come to them, but I promise that they do not come looking for solar or wind farms.”
Except there is growing evidence that, at least sometimes, they do. A number of companies now offer wind farm tours to curious tourists who are keen to understand how the turbines work and what they’re like up close.
In Scotland, adventurous visitors can mountain bike and hike around an onshore wind farm, and boat tours in the U.K. and U.S. offer the chance to sail right underneath a turbine’s blades. In Denmark, small groups can even climb an offshore turbine themselves.