Recently there has been much discussion about wind energy and the impacts of wind farms on a community. Apex Clean Energy would like to address some of the misinformation that is being shared by providing well-understood, independently verified facts about wind energy and wind farms. This is a long letter, so if you take only one thing from it, let it be this: Wind energy is incredibly beneficial to counties, landowners, the power grid, and the environment. Apex employees work here because we see firsthand, every day, how our landowners and their communities benefit from the projects that we work on. Please read on for information about wind farms.
Bird and bat studies and risk: Developers complete bat and bird studies to identify potential risks to species of concern from project construction and operations. In Ohio, we are required to conduct extensive bird and bat studies prior to construction, as well as one to two years of post-construction monitoring studies. As needed throughout the life of a project, wind companies coordinate with federal and state agencies to ensure compliance with federal and state laws. Crucially, wind turbines do not cause population-level declines to local birds. In fact, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has concluded that the greatest number of bird fatalities come from feral cats (avg 2.4 billion bird deaths/year), followed by building/glass collisions (avg 600 million/year) and car collisions (avg 215 million/year). Wind turbines are far lower on the list, with an estimated 235,000 bird fatalities/year [USFWS 2017].
Shadow flicker: Shadow flicker is a highly predictable occurrence, and wind farm design includes setbacks and placements to manage it. The Apex standard for shadow flicker is 40 hrs/year for participating landowners, and 30 hrs/year for nonparticipating landowners (this is also the OPSB standard). This is less than 1% of annual daylight hours and amounts to 5 minutes/day on average for non-participating landowners and 7 min/day for participating landowners. Apex conducts studies to confirm shadow flicker, modeled for the project site plan. These studies assume the “worst case” in modeling (i.e., they assume the house is entirely made of glass, there are no trees, and the sun is shining the average annual amount of sunlight hours), so the modeled assumptions of shadow flicker are going to be higher than in reality.
Sound from wind turbines: Modern turbine technology has been very effective in minimizing sound through quiet electric yaw motors, new blade designs, and more. The OPSB requires sound measured from the outside of a nonparticipating home to remain no more than 5 dBA above the nighttime ambient noise level. At Honey Creek Wind, we anticipate that ambient noise level to be about 40 dBA, resulting in a limit of about 45 dBA. As a frame of reference for sound, heavy truck traffic is typically 80 dBA, conversational speech is typically 60 dBA, and a library is typically 50 dBA (Source: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency).
Infrasound from wind turbines: Infrasound is generated by phenomena all around—wind, waves, heartbeats, airplanes, appliances, cars, and yes, wind turbines. It’s not a new or unusual phenomenon, and it is not harmful to human health at the level produced by a wind turbine. This fact is conclusively supported by many peer-reviewed studies, notable universities, and doctors. For example, Dr. Jeffrey Ellenbogen, Neurologist at John Hopkins University, states, “Claims about adverse health outcomes based on wind turbines are not based on scientific or medical literature” and adds: “… insomnia, hyper-tension and other diseases are common in the general population. When the question is, does a wind turbine influence these things? The answer is a blunt NO.”
Soil and land: Land disturbance from wind turbines is relatively small, with 98% of the land within a wind farm area remaining undisturbed. The conditions of Apex’s wind farm lease state that soil is de-compacted after construction and drain tile is to be repaired in a timely manner, with repairs coordinated and compensated by Apex. OPSB will also require that all drain tile is promptly repaired or rerouted to at least original conditions to ensure proper drainage. Leases also include a lifetime tile guarantee, so if tile repair is done incorrectly and needs to be re-repaired, Apex is responsible for paying for such repairs as soon as an issue arises.
Wind energy production: Ohio’s electricity is entirely supplied by the PJM grid. While some of the power generated from wind farms could go to the northeastern United States, it typically does not. First, the Northeast region has its own grid operators, NE-ISO and NYISO, that manage power generation and distribution separate from PJM and have limited connections to PJM. Second, electricity travels to the closest source through the path of least resistance. Whether it’s from wind, coal, or gas, we consume electricity that comes from all over. But a wind farm in Ohio does contribute to Ohio’s generation mix and, more important, brings tremendous benefits in terms of local revenue.
Wind energy payments: Per Apex’s lease, landowners are guaranteed a minimum payment based on the megawatts per wind turbine on their property. If the wind turbine happens to be down for repairs at any point, there would be no impact on the annual payment to the landowner. There are instances in which a landowner can receive more than the minimum payment (if electricity prices spike, for example), but never less.
Wind energy and electric rates and costs: The costs of the wind project, including development and construction, are privately funded by the project owner. Wind projects do not use taxpayer dollars to pay for the construction of projects, and they do not cause electricity rate increases to fund construction or operation. Electricity rates are carefully managed and regulated by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, and it is unlikely that any one thing, such as a wind farm, will have a direct impact on electric bills. Crucially, wind energy is a low-cost form of electric power generation because the input (wind) is free, whereas fossil fuel sources of generation have costs associated with their inputs. According to Lazard’s annual review of electricity pricing by generation source, wind energy provides cheaper generation than coal and nuclear.
Ice throw: Wind turbines have been safely operating for three decades in locations where icing can occur. They have ice detection equipment and cold weather monitoring systems that prevent the blades from spinning during icing conditions to allow for the ice to fall off naturally, and straight down. Any pieces of ice are shed directly underneath the turbine, posing no risk to the surrounding area. In a 2019 analysis conducted for the OPSB application for Emerson Creek Wind, it was concluded that a 2.2 lb fragment of ice has an impact probability of 1% within approximately 250 ft of a 650 ft turbine, and 0.01% within 1,125 ft. A real-world scenario has even lower probabilities, since the modeled scenario assumes that the turbine continues to operate as ice builds up, whereas safety measures should prevent this.
Wind turbines and fire risk: It is very rare for wind turbine fires to occur, and in the unusual cases when they have occurred, they most commonly start as electrical or mechanical fires and are contained in a small area of the turbine. The most common source of ignition in a turbine fire would be an electrical malfunction. Most electrical fires are self-limiting because they begin in the electrical cabinet within the turbine. Once they burn through the small amount of flammable material in the cabinet, they run out of fuel, and they go out. A fire in the gear box (where the oil is contained) is exceedingly rare. There are sensors in the gear box that detect heat and stop the gears. Apex offers training to local emergency service providers during the development process. In the rare event of a fire, EMS responders are instructed to contain a 300 ft area around the wind turbine, which is where any debris may fall.
Karst geology and wind turbines: A 650 ft wind turbine on bedrock has no problem with Karst geology. To put this in perspective, a typical 60 ft diameter grain bin filled with soybeans will result in a pressure of approximately 4,500 lbs./sq ft, whereas a 650 ft turbine will result in a pressure of approximately 1,050 lbs./sq ft. So compared to a typical, full grain bin and its foundation, a wind turbine does not create even a quarter of the pressure on the supporting earth and bedrock below the surface of its foundation. Further, the concrete foundations are only about 10 ft deep, and geotechnical studies will be completed at turbine locations to ensure suitable soil and rock exists at each location.
Wind turbine safety: There are over 65,000 wind turbines in operation in the United States. Instances of mechanical failure are extremely rare and notably absent from the news for how many wind turbines there are. Wind turbines go through many safety checks in construction and contain fault detection systems in their machines. The reality is that wind turbines are a safe, reliable technology that produce electricity in conditions ranging from 5 MPH winds to blizzards to thunderstorms.
Wind turbines and Life Flight: As the regulator of our national airspace, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is heavily involved in the turbine siting process, and it is responsible for ensuring that wind farms do not endanger users of the airspace. All wind turbines will be required to meet FAA requirements and have specific GPS coordinates that help airspace users navigate around them. Helicopters can safely navigate around wind farms, and it is common practice to coordinate with EMS organizations like Life Flight. Apex has coordinated with Life Flight personnel in Ohio, and they have not expressed objections to other Ohio wind projects.
Sincerely,
Apex Clean Energy
www.honeycreekwindpower.com