Unexpected landmarks you might pass while driving can have pivotal stories behind them, and the Northeast has quite a few of them. You might, for example, have noticed seemingly random stone walls lining New England and parts of New York, which are leftover markers of early European settlers. If you’ve driven through Central New York, the region known as “America’s Craft Beer Destination,” before, then you might remember seeing seven wind turbines located in Madison, New York. They were even visible from the Route 20 Scenic Byway. These turbines, collectively forming the Madison Wind Farm, held the title of being the first wind farm in New York State when they were built back in 2000, though as of September 2025, they’ve reached the end of their lifespan.
On September 18th, 2025, the seven turbines came plummeting down in quick succession, totaling about 20 seconds, CNY Central reported. The demolition was neither political nor for health concerns, but rather simply because keeping the old turbines running was unfeasible. “It turned out that these wind facilities were prototypes at the time and it was just really hard to find the parts to refurbish them, and so the most economical way was to take them down and to start a new project,” Rachel Smith, Senior Project Manager at EDP Removals, told CNY Central. The demolition was hardly unexpected — back when the Madison Wind Farm was created in 2000, it was already predicted that it would last for 20 to 25 years. In other words, the wind turbines persisted to the longer end of their life expectancy.
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The aftermath of Madison Wind Farm’s demolition
Turbines of Madison Wind Farm in New York surrounded by a pasture before demolition – CNY Central/YouTube
The seven turbines at Madison Wind Farm stood 220 feet tall, with an 11.5-megawatt capacity (or roughly 1.6 megawatts per turbine) — enough to power over 5,000 homes a year. While the average wind turbine today stands at about 340 feet and has a 3.4-megawatt capacity, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, the Madison Wind Farm was pretty revolutionary for its time, being the first of its kind in New York State. It proved that wind power could be harnessed on a commercial scale in the state, generating significant income for landowners and local governments while minimizing environmental impact and creating new jobs.
The end of Madison Wind Farm is hardly the end of green energy for the region. EDP, the renewable energy group responsible for the Madison Wind Farm, plans to develop a new, much larger wind farm in central New York called the Rolling Upland Wind Farm. The farm will have a capacity of over 76 megawatts, more than six times that of the Madison Wind Farm and enough to power around 32,000 homes.
As for what travelers along Route 20 can expect to see going forward, there likely won’t be much. The old turbines will be dismantled, with some parts sent to a waste-energy facility and other parts going to landfills. Smith of EDP Removals said to CNY Central that “the land will be restored and go back to agricultural land use.” If you’re interested in an upstate road trip, Route 20, a scenic coast-to-coast odyssey, is a great option, with the section running from Lafayette to Duanesburg being a designated New York State Scenic Byway. Plus, you’ll have a fun tidbit of industrial heritage knowledge to share along the way through Madison.
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Read the original article on Islands.
