Neil_H

In efforts to promote clean, renewable energy, governments around the world have encouraged the production of large-scale wind farms. They have done this by providing various economic incentives, such as subsidies and tax breaks, to companies who wish to build such wind farms.
Initially, these companies could build their towers along windy coastlines. As a result, few objections were heard. However, as suitable coastal sites diminished, other locations were sought.
Wind farms were being sited along the tops of ridges as well as on the prairies where windy conditions existed. Since you asked about wind farms in the mountains, I will restrict my comments to them. This is not to say that there are no problems with those wind farms in places like Texas (see video "Protecting Texas").
Let’s begin with building the towers. To support such 250-ft or more towers, their turbines and blades (weighing more than 1600 tons!), acres of forest need to be cleared for the huge foundations, roads, and transmission lines. Clearing the forest displaces wildlife and increases erosion by water running more swiftly off the bare ridge-tops.
Once the towers are up and operating, thousands of migrating birds and bats are killed by the rotors. The noise the rotating blades make may be disruptive and ice sheets that form on the blades may be thrown significant distances.
Because wind is inherently inconsistent, electric power companies need to maintain their conventional power capabilities. Thus wind power supplements rather than replaces conventional power sources and the energy used in constructing and maintaining them adds to energy costs.
Whether or not wind farms constitute an “eyesore” is, of course, up to the beholder. However, wind farm siting is not covered by present laws that require Environmental Impact Assessments for such projects, so residents who might object to the planned locations may not get to voice their objections.