Rusting wind turbines actually face higher physical stress than shiny new ones, even though they have less surface for the wind to hit.

Common sense says that if rust eats away at a metal pole, the thinner pole will experience less wind resistance. These experiments show that corrosion causes a counterintuitive 20% increase in the peak bending moment on offshore turbines. The structural damage creates instabilities that amplify the forces from the wind and waves. This means that a slightly corroded tower is much closer to collapsing than simple thickness measurements would suggest. Engineers will need to rethink how they calculate the lifespan of green energy infrastructure in the ocean.