WIND CAN PAY FOR GOOD SITES

Panel calls for giving property owners a stake in wind farms
Thomas Content, August 15, 2010 (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

"A task force is recommending that wind farm developers in Wisconsin offer to make payments to homeowners who live near the projects…[This] is among the proposals forwarded to the state Public Service Commission by a wind turbine site advisory council that has been meeting since March.

"The PSC is expected to consider the proposals by the end of August and forward them to the Legislature for review…The goal is to strike a balance between adding wind power and protecting nearby homeowners who are concerned about shadow flicker and noise from towers that can rise hundreds of feet in the air."

Growth is big and Wisconsin is wise to prepare. (click to enlarge)

"The wind siting council task force…included wind developers and utilities as well as homeowners and town officials…[It] was created by a state law aimed at creating uniform wind power siting standards to replace a hodgepodge of local regulations that have cropped up around the state, including outright bans adopted in some areas. The rules target small wind farms that are issued permits by local governments. Utility-scale wind farms must be approved by the PSC…

"To reduce the tension between property owners who host wind turbines and those who don't, the council is advocating that nearby property owners be given a financial stake in a project by the developer…though a majority of the council concluded that wind farms do not reduce property values for nearby landowners…"

Like Wisconsin, many states want more small wind and have incentives to drive growth. (click to enlarge)

"Most of the council's recommendations are supported by an 11-4 majority…[The minority] said the council's makeup was skewed toward groups or businesses with a financial stake in wind power projects…[and that] the recommendations are not restrictive enough…

"The proposal to offer nearby property owners a financial stake in exchange for an easement is similar to what We Energies has in place for Glacier Hills, which will be Wisconsin's largest wind project to date…Wisconsin needs six more wind farms the size of the 90-turbine Glacier Hills project to achieve the state's renewable energy mandate that 10% of the state's electricity come from renewable sources by 2015."