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Commission considers turbine policy
Published Monday, April 28, 2008
The City of Fergus Falls is well on its way to adopting a policy regarding the installation of commercial and private wind turbines.
Wind Energy Conservation Systems (WECS) were the order of business at Monday’s Planning Commission meeting, where members approved an ordinance that may see a first reading by the city council as early as Monday.
Fergus Falls currently has a temporary moratorium on wind turbines. The six-month ordinance was passed by the council in late February following requests for turbines by both residential and industrial users.
The purpose of the moratorium, said Community Development Director Gordon Hydukovich, is to give the city time to develop a WECS policy — something that has never existed until this point.
“Basically if someone came in to get a building permit for something like this, they wouldn’t have been able to do it because we didn’t have (an ordinance),” he said.
But that will likely change in the near future. The Planning Commission has established a set of regulations for WECS installation based on a policy developed by the city of Hutchinson. The proposed ordinance details requirements for obtaining a conditional use permit for a WECS, whether for residential, commercial or industrial use.
The proposal includes requirements regarding tower height, setbacks from property lines, shadow flicker, noise and tower discontinuation, among others.
The idea, Hydukovich said, is to create clear, fair conditions for WECS installation.
The Planning Commission developed the proposed ordinance with input from Vinco, Inc. which operates a wind turbine outside city limits and specializes in turbine installation. City Engineer Dan Edwards and City Attorney Rolf Nycklemoe also contributed to the proposal.
Hydukovich said the proposed policy could get its first reading at Monday’s city council meeting, though it may head to a separate committee beforehand.
Comments
The Daily Journal is happy to host community conversations about news and life in Fergus Falls and the surrounding area. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Witty is great. Abusive is not. If you think a post violates these standards, don't escalate the situation. Instead, flag the comment to alert us. We'll take action if necessary. It's not hard. This should be a place where people want to read and contribute -- a place for spirited exchanges of opinion. So those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post at all.Posted by Mel (anonymous) on April 28, 2008 at 10:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Can anyone tell me why the turbines have to be the size that they are? Years ago they generated electricity and pumped water with a small regular windmill, that didn't clobber birds as it spun around, while standing 1,000 ft. high with blades 800 ft. long.
Posted by rodentboy (anonymous) on April 29, 2008 at 6 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"The Planning Commission has established a set of regulations for WECS installation based on a policy developed by the city of Hutchinson."
good thing they took someone else's idea or else they would screw it up completely.
Posted by PrairieLover (anonymous) on April 29, 2008 at 8:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Fergus Falls is ahead of the pack on this one. It turns out that there are real problems with living too close to 40 story industrial wind turbines, though developers don't want you to know this. There is a Wisconsin website that has a diary kept by a family since the turbines went on line there in the first week of March. You can read it here betterplan.squarespace.com.
If the turbines are far enough away from people's homes then problems are eliminated. But developers can't make money that way because they need to put them where there are transmission lines and that's also where people tend to live. They want to cram them in to make it profitable. This industry is so new that most people don't know yet about the problems. Fergus Falls has an idea about it, and I think residents should feel thankful. In a lot of places they are just handing out permits with no questions.
Posted by Mel (anonymous) on April 29, 2008 at 9:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you PrairieLover for sending the link, betterplan.squarespace.com. Very interesting!
Posted by really (anonymous) on April 29, 2008 at 10:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The University of Minnesota - Morris has a great wind turbine program. Check is out for further information. www.umn.edu - Morris Campus.
Posted by DevoBill (anonymous) on April 29, 2008 at 10:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Mel,
If you install a tiny wind turbine under 40 KW the power company has to by law buy the power from you for the same rate they charge you. OTP will honor the rate buyback up to 100 KW. Anything larger and you have to get a contract rate witch makes sense for both parties. The problem is that a tiny wind turbine will not pay back the investment fast enough if at all.
You need these.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r50/D...
Posted by Mel (anonymous) on April 29, 2008 at 1:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hi Devo, I've seen rows and rows of them. But my question is, why do they all look alike? Why only 3 thin blades? If you are getting a certain amount of energy from 3 blades wouldn't 6, 12, or 32 give you more power and also could be much shorter? More compact more efficient.
Posted by edrule3 (anonymous) on April 29, 2008 at 2:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Check out Ed's video presentation on this webpage: http://www.pacwind.net/
Posted by edrule3 (anonymous) on April 29, 2008 at 2:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Whoops! Just checked the Pacwind website and the Ed Begley jr. video is gone. Try this one:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/automoti...
Posted by DevoBill (anonymous) on April 29, 2008 at 2:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Mel,
Some have two opposed blades, some a single with a counter weight, some are vertical "Eggbeater". The three blade design has come about because of the efficiency gains with the tip velocity being up to six times wind speed. The other design feature with the three blade type is the smooth torque, we all like our electricity smooth cycles and consistent voltage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbin...
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