Wind Siting Issues

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Siting Issues Discussion Tennessee Valley and Eastern Kentucky Wind Working Group March 24, 2010

Agenda : 

Agenda Intro to Iberdrola Renewables Siting Overview NIMBY/BANANA arguments Questions and Answers

IBERDROLA RENEWABLES Today: The worldwide leader. . . : 

IBERDROLA RENEWABLES Today: The worldwide leader. . . Largest owner and operator of renewable energy facilities in the world Headquartered in Spain, publicly-traded company Strategic growth relies on long-term ownership of renewable energy projects Support all forms of renewable energy ~10,000 MW of wind power worldwide by December 31, 2009 #1 in the world for installed wind energy #2 in the US for installed wind energy (~3,600 MW) Planning to invest Billions of $$ in United States during foreseeable future

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Big Horn 200 MW Owned Klondike 24 MW Owned Klondike II 75 MW Owned Klondike III 221 MW Owned Klondike IIIa 76 MW Owned Stateline 300 MW PPA North American Wind Assets SW Wyoming 144 MW PPA Twin Buttes 75 MW Owned High Winds 162 MW PPA Shiloh 150 MW Owned Mountain View III 25 MW Owned Dillon 45 MW Owned MID-CONTINENT REGION MinnDakota 150 MW Owned Elk River 150 MW Owned WESTERN REGION Casselman 35 MW Owned Locust Ridge 26 MW Owned Maple Ridge II 45.4 MW Owned (91 MW Project) Bear Creek 6 MW Owned (24 MW Project) Jersey-Atlantic Wind 2 MW Owned (7.5 MW Project) NORTHEAST REGION Flying Cloud 44 MW Owned Wind projects owned or controlled Colorado Green 81 MW Owned (162 MW Project) Winnebago 20 Owned Providence Heights 72 MW Owned Top of Iowa II, 80 MW Owned Moraine 51 MW Owned Trimont100 MW Owned Maple Ridge 1a 16.5 MW Owned (33 MW Project) Lempster 24 MW Owned Locust Ridge II 102 MW Owned FarmerCity 146 MW Owned Pebble Springs 99 MW Owned Elm Creek 99 MW Owned Hay Canyon 101 MW Owned Maple Ridge 1 99 MW Owned (198 MW Project) Barton 1&2, 160 MW Owned Moraine II50 MW Owned Buffalo Ridge 50 MW Owned Streator Cayuga Ridge South 300 MW Owned Penascal 202 MW Owned Barton Chapel 120 MW Owned

Siting Issues - Overview : 

Siting Issues - Overview Technical Wind Resource Transmission Access Design/Construction Environmental Avian/Bat/Other Wildlife Studies Wetlands/Land Use Noise/Other setbacks Commercial PPA vs. merchant Market Location Government/Discretionary FAA, DOD, Others Tax Considerations Zoning/Other Discretionary

Wind Resource – U.S. Wind Map : 

Wind Resource – U.S. Wind Map

Wind Resource : 

Wind Resource Raw Material in a Wind Plant Traditionally most important consideration Met Towers – Used to test wind Size – 50m, 60m….maybe larger in South Extended Monitoring – Important! 7

Transmission Access : 

Transmission Access Rapidly increasing in importance Windy areas getting transmission congestion Line Capacity (need for upgrades) RTO’s, relationships between RTO’s Transmission Access vs. Wind….tradeoff Future system upgrades??? Needed, but likely years away

Technical – Design/Construction : 

Technical – Design/Construction Considerations: Roads/Access – Midwest vs. Ridge Work Foundations/Geotechnical Spread Foundations vs. Caisson Rock Excavation Underground Caves Electrical More Rock Excavation Soil Resitivity Substation Access to transmission system

Technical - Environmental : 

Technical - Environmental Avian/Bat/Other Studies Multiple year – parallel with met studies Altamont lessons Indiana Bat Wetlands/Land Use State Agency involvement Review during detailed design phase Approvals can take months Noise State/Local Standards Extensive pre-installation simulations Major contributor to actual system layout

Technical – Commercial : 

Technical – Commercial Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) Long term fixed price for power (utility or retail). Merchant Operation No contracts…sell on open market Geography key here

Government/Discretionary : 

Government/Discretionary FAA Flightpaths, radar Nexrad DOD Sales/Property Tax Agreements Every state different Local effect (why wind is attractive) Sales Tax Exemptions Zoning Some states local, some state managed Public Safety Considerations More rural – less zoning Iberdrola internal standards

NIMBY/BANANA : 

NIMBY/BANANA Definition of NIMBY? Not In My BackYard Definition of BANANA? Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything A wise man once told me….. Five percent of people will oppose EVERYTHING Generally true in past experience

NIMBY/BANANA Tactics : 

NIMBY/BANANA Tactics Initially does not like potential view, but… Quickly discovers the internet. Internet driven hysteria topics.. Noise Shadow Flicker Stray Voltage Property Values Wind Turbine Syndrome ETC….ETC….ETC Will address each topic

Noise : 

Noise Noise from Nacelle and wind/blades Reasons for sound variation: Distance from source Wind speed and conditions Crops in the field

Sound and distance : 

Sound and distance Housing setback is 1200’ Wrigley Field: Home plate to center field is 400’

Compared to a car : 

Compared to a car Interior sound level of a $350,000 Rolls Royce Phantom at 70 mph: 62 dBA C&D June 2006 Typical mid-size sedan: 70 dBA 55 to 70 dBA is 150x more sound power BUT…. Noise is a parameter in our layout determination… 17

Shadow Flicker : 

Shadow Flicker Big, slow-moving blades cast shadows Short, seasonal impacts only

Shadow Flicker and Epilepsy : 

Shadow Flicker and Epilepsy Seizures triggered by flashes 5-30 Hz Epilepsyfoundation.org Typical wind turbine operates 9-19 RPM What is the shadow flicker frequency of a 19 RPM rotor?

Shadow Flicker : 

Shadow Flicker Is shadow flicker a nuisance? A matter of opinion Is shadow flicker a health risk? NO

Stray Voltage : 

Stray Voltage Claim – EMF from Towers cause health issues. Carryover from NIMBYism on transmission line development Numerous studies refute this claim More EMF impact from household items

Property Values : 

Property Values Claim – Homes in view of Wind Turbines decrease in value Several local studies refute this claim… LBNL Study released 12/09 Nationwide study 11 years of data Most comprehensive study ever done on this claimed effect. Finding: “Neither the view of wind energy facilities nor the distance of the home to those facilities was found to have any consistent, measurable, and significant effect on the selling prices of nearby homes.”

Wind Turbine Syndrome : 

Wind Turbine Syndrome Dr. Nina Pierpoint Claim – similar symptoms found among those living near wind farms. www.windturbinesyndrome.com Article review procedure – family affair Symptoms similar to noise annoyance Leventhall, 2009 rebuttal “It is not a pathophysiological effect as in Pierpoint’s hypothesis. It is the well know stress effects of unwanted noise, which leads to extreme reactions in a very small number of people.”

Questions : 

Questions