The 32-story turbines of the Jersey-Atlantic Wind Farm have so dramatically changed Atlantic City’s skyline – perhaps more than any casino could – that tourists haven’t stopped asking questions about them since they went up five years ago along a back-bay salt marsh.

Some casino hotel guests are so fascinated that they small wind turbines ask for rooms with a view of the five delicate fans, resort operators say.

So the Atlantic County Utilities Authority is cranking open the security gates at the Route 30 wastewater-treatment facility that houses the turbines for twice-a-week tours in June, July, and August.

The tours were offered by appointment only last summer – to see whether anyone was interested. This year, they are scheduled for noon Mondays and Fridays, no appointment necessary. About 15,000 people a year – mostly school groups – had previously visited since the wind  turbines were erected.

The tour covers the industrial-looking grounds of the wastewater-treatment facility, where a rotten-egg smell emanates from the containment basins and water-clarifying stations. But standing at the concrete base of one of the massive turbines gives visitors a better understanding of just how this operation saves 24,000 barrels of crude oil a year with the hybrid energy projects in use here.

While visitors can’t go inside and climb the winding staircases of the 385-foot carbon-steel structures, they can get close enough to the bases to hear the unique “whoosh” of the 120-foot blades.

Most of the time the turbines are silent sentries, turning between 10 and 20 revolutions per minute, and when the wind averages about 15 m.p.h., the tips of the blades go as fast as 120 m.p.h., said Chris Harris, director of wastewater operations for the plant, who led a recent tour.

“This entire plant, with the wind turbines generator as a centerpiece, is actually the largest demonstration of hybrid energy in the U.S.,” Harris bragged as he showed the group how the wind energy, combined with a solar array on the site, supplies more than 60 percent of the electricity required to operate the plant.

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