Senator Brock Greenfield and a bunch of mostly conservatives are sponsoring a bill that appears to promote wind power. My neighbors the Novstrups have their names on it. That makes me suspicious.
Senate Bill 76 revises the setback requirements for wind turbines in South Dakota. Right now, if you put up a large wind energy system (defined as one or more wind turbines at least 75 feet tall), you have to place your turbines at least 500 feet or 1.1 times the height of your tower, whichever is greater, from any surrounding property line. Since turbine towers are usually 80 to 100 meters—260 to 330 feet—tall, the effective setback is usually going to be 500 feet.
Senator Greenfield and friends apparently find 500-foot setbacks too restrictive. Their Senate Bill 76 strikes that larger alternative and sets every setback at 1.1 times the height of the tower, just as is the case for small wind energy systems. SB 76 also waives the 1.1x setback if the wind energy system owner holds a wind easement over the adjoining property. The current statute only allows waiving the setback by written agreement with the adjacent land owner, which technically may not be the same as an easement (defined in SDCL 43-13-16, further detailed in subsequent statutes of Chapter 43-13) created by a prior landowner who has since sold out.
Small setbacks may open up more land for wind farms, but do wind farmers want to build that close to other properties? Windustry warns that large setbacks may be as good for developers as for neighbors: put your turbines too close to neighbors, and neighbors may foul up smooth wind flow with their building projects. They might even get wise, put up their own wind turbines, and catch a big chunk of the prevailing wind flowing into your towers.
Stay tuned for committee testimony on SB 76, when will hear of NIMBYism is hindering wind tower development in South Dakota and whether the wind industry wants to cozy up to its neighbors.
One complaint I hear around Obrien Co,iowa is turbine noise complaints. Some folks claim they have trouble sleeping with the noise day and night. We have 214 turbines right in my area. This video shows a good view if you can suffer through the ad at the beginning. Personally speaking,this young woman reporter is 260 feet closer to heaven than I ever intend to get and the view gives me vertigo.
http://www.siouxlandmatters.com/news/local-news/aerial-view-from-midamericans-latest-wind-farm-project
The wind industry supports smaller setbacks. The rationale is allows them to be put up with lower cost and lower quantities of towers per wind farm.
For instance, because they are not a reliable source (no wind or high wind they don’t generate power), they are most cost effective where they contribute as they can where they can. In this case, they could be a supplemental source feeding a specific community.
Mike is right with regard to there is noise associated with them down wind but it dissipates rather quickly. Personally, I find barking dogs, highway noise, and bellowing cows louder and of greater consternation. I don’t know if the noise is gone/minimal at 1,000 ft, 500 ft, or 100 ft.
I guess it is a question how much sacrifice is appropriate to burn less coal.
S’more interesting stuff. http://obword.obriencountybell.com/wordpress/?p=434
Obrien county is really windy and full of red leaning voters. Troy,my hearing is real poor and I only occasionally hear turbines with my hearing aid. The closest are at least a quarter to half mile away.
I don’t know what the spacing is but there are never more than four in a line per mile around here.
I haven’t spent time close enough to a wind farm to really study the noise they make. However, I wonder what’s more disruptive to one’s sleep and concentration: the irregular noises Troy describes or the low, regular thrum of wind turbines?
Burning less coal is a “sacrifice” only in the sense that investing money in your 401(k) is a sacrifice.
I believe the setbacks are sometimes an issue when towers are close to roads. We can have massive power lines running over our roads or directly adjacent to the ditch, but a wind turbine is required to be 500 feet away. This is rather silly since those driving along a highway or Interstate won’t ever be impacted by what little noise a turbine would generate and they aren’t about to care if the turbine casts a shadow on the hood of their Camry.
In other areas such setbacks can be interesting if the land is near wetlands or other publicly owned land. It can be even more interesting if you have an adjacent landowner who dislikes wind turbines (these types exist even if I cannot figure out why). Frankly it doesn’t make much sense to have a generic setback that only applies to wind turbines but not to radio or television towers, large utility lines, electrical substations, underground pipelines, etc. I won’t claim to know at what distance a wind turbine can be heard, but I’m guessing the noise is far less than what emulates from tires against a highway or legal use of an engine brake which occur at every Interstate off-ramp…. and we don’t mandate 500 feet setbacks to our roads.
G E claims turbine noise at .3 miles is around 30 dbs and background noise is 45 dbs and you shouldn’t be able to hear the turbines.
http://www.gereports.com/post/92442325225/how-loud-is-a-wind-turbine/
A bigger problem for me is strobe-type shadows on windows and buildings. When the sun comes up I see momentary shadows out of both eyes(peripheral vision) and in front of me. I do not like strobe-type lights.
Here are some facts when it comes to this issue
Most wind developers are in the 1.5 set back from each other, so basically if its 300 feet, the setback would be 450 from the next nearest turbine the reason being that it can effect the generation and condition of the next turbine if you are not careful. This happened in the 80’s with wind development, they put them too close to each other and had numerous problems.
As for roads, fence lines, etc. Its the 1 per 1 set back, 1 foot away for how tall it could be at its tallest, so the turbine straight up to the ground is how far away the base is. And again most developers like that 1.1 or 1.2 rate just to be friendly neighbors, and even 1.5 or higher if its an occupied house. The problem with 500 feet is then it can become an issue, in certain developments.
As for the noise factor, its like a highway a mile from your house. It may bother you, yet I don’t even notice. Everyone hears things different, at different levels and everyone has different tollerence levels for it. Unlike smell where most people will adapt relatively quickly, noise is a little different.
Now the funny thing is, the few studies that have been conducted (and its few and premature to say its definite), have noticed that if you are against the project before hand you are 90% likely to claim to have a problem with noise, or the view. If you are for it before hand 90% likely to not have a problem with any part of it.
As for the flicker effect that is the strobe-type shadows on the windows and buildings at certain times of the year. This is something that studies can determine where, when and how often it will go on. This is something that people need to be informed about. But again most will work with the landowner not against.
Here are the agreed upon setback limits for the next Obrien Co wind farm-
“The application documents and maps of the project that they provided me, I’ve looked at the maps. They have indicated that all the turbine sites have the appropriate setbacks of 528 feet from any right-of-way and overhead utility lines; 1,200 feet from the nearest occupied dwelling and 500 feet from the nearest other structures including unoccupied dwellings,” Hallgren reported. “All of the proposed sites met the setback requirements.”
The first wind farm around me has similar setbacks,I believe.
Mike, I wouldn’t want strobe shadows or strobe lights. The switch from slow red blinkers to fast white strobes atop broadcast towers drives me nuts. When I’m driving, I find those strobe lights distract me more than the slow red beacons ever did.
Shadow flicker—what if we made wind turbine blades out of transparent material? Mr. Scott, where’s that formula for transparent aluminum? :-)
How bout this, we just leave it up to the county zoning boards and let the legislature go to work on something more important.
But dang it, J Srtska, then they’d have to get to work on teacher pay and Medicaid, and we can’t have that happen this early with lots of time for deliberation and research. No, we need to save those plans for the end of session when we can rush them. ;-)
Wind turbine red lights are synchronized to blink at the same time. However,depending on which way the wind blows,the blades can make it look like the lights are way out of synch. In moderate to heavy fog you can’t see any of these massive turbines or lights.
Why do they sync those lights, Mike? They do look pretty cool, but would non-synchronous lights pose a problem?
Best answer I could find(and most accepted answer among those that answered) is-
[In synchronous mode,] the limits of the turbine farm was immediately evident, since all 14 lighted wind turbines were defined by high intensity red strobes that were flashing simultaneously. The effect was in strong contrast to the previous night’s presentation, in that the simultaneously flashing lights very clearly defined the extent of the entire wind farm, from one end to the other, and also provided a most dramatic warning of the potential hazard.
It’s also noted in the executive summary that bridges and arrays of radio towers also use synchronized lights, and that the wind farm standards were based off of these previous practices.
Viewing these turbines at night from a distance od several miles west,you can clearly see cell phone towers and radio towers blinking out of synch with the turbines.
Alone between the sheets
Only brings exasperation
It’s time to walk the streets
Smell the desperation
At least there’s pretty lights
And though there’s little variation
It nullifies the night
From overkill
Red,synchronous lights offer little variation.for sure. (lyrics from Men at Work-Overkill)
Thanks, Mike! That’s a good explanation for synched lights, letting pilots see the entire wind farm at once, as a unified flight hazard.