NextEra Energy may be starting the New Year with a $75K-per-day penalty. The wind developer asked the Public Utilities Commission for a temporary waiver of conditions on its permit for the Crowned Ridge Wind farm it’s building in Grant and Codington counties, but the PUC Monday heard testimony from opponents that, on top of not installing the noise-dampening technology it promised, NextEra may be building bigger turbines than its permit allows:
Amber Christenson, who lives next to Crown Ridged Wind, testified the company erected turbines that are taller and generate more megawatts than permitted.
Christenson said the company was granted permission to construct wind turbines with 80 meter hub heights in certain locations, but said in those locations, the turbines had hub heights of 90 meters instead.
…Christenson also told commissioners the turbines were supposed to generate at most 2.3 megawatts, but the turbines have nameplates that show they are capable of generating 2.7 megawatts [Shannon Marvel, “Waiver Request for $400M Wind Farm Project Deferred by S.D. Regulators,” Mitchell Daily Republic , 2019.12.31].
NextEra says it can explain everything, but Public Utilities Commissioner Gary Hanson, who wasn’t happy with granting NextEra this emergency hearing in the first place, is applying the political adage of when you’re explaining, you’re losing:
Public Utilities Commission Chairman Gary Hanson wasn’t impressed with NextEra’s management of the project and failure to explain certain aspects of the project during previous hearings.
“The compliance with the permit is foundation. A name plate, sound and flicker — these are not new to the process,” Hanson said. “At the very least this needs to be deferred until we get some answers.”
Hanson said if the decisions isn’t deferred, his other option would be to deny the waiver [Marvel, 2019.12.31].
The PUC voted to take up NextEra’s waiver request at its regularly scheduled meeting January 7. NextEra’s failure to install those noise-dampeners before the autumn chill, compounded now by what the PUC perceives as a lack of clarity in its operations, may cost it $525,000 in penalties paid to Xcel Energy in the week it must wait for its next hearing before the PUC.
Wow, now if we could just get the PUC to be this tough on TransCanada/TC Energy for lowballing its projections of how often its shoddy Keystone pipeline would leak.
These permit conditions shouldn’t be that hard to comply with. This sounds as though the construction site manager is dropping the ball.
I’m not excusing these eff-ups because I support wind power. If you can’t follow the rules, the terms of your permit and your promises, maybe you ought not be doing business.
This is a problem, though, of the state having a reputation as a limp regulator. You can look at any industry, from CAFOs to mining to pipelines to sewage ash to gold magic machines, and the problem is a lack of enforcement and penalties. Back in the 1990s several “bad actor” bills passed. These were meant to put the hammer down on repeat offenders. They couldn’t obtain permits to operate in the state if they violated the law. The problem is the state negotiates away those violations in return for another promise and some money. Put the goddam CEOs in jail for a few days, and watch that attitude change.
PUC did not impose the Penalties. The Penalties were caused by a breach of contract between two parties, CRW/NextEra and NSP/Xcel. The PUC has not done anything to CRW/NextEra in the way of penalties. The PUC should act swiftly and harshly to send a message that the PUC and the state of SD will not tolerate lawbreakers.
CRW was permitted for 2.3 MW turbines, CRW constructed 2.7MW turbines. Nothing in the application even gave an idea there would be anything but 2.3 MW. In SD Wind pays taxes on production and nameplate. So besides getting around $250 million in PTCs (taxpayer $), double depreciation, leveraging farmland not owned by CRW and kickbacks from the SD governor, CRW was going to cheat us out of a tiny amount of nameplate and production revenue. If Intervenors hadn’t taken the picture of the nacelles nameplate, no one would have been the wiser.
page 19 of the CRW application states a 2.3 MW Generator Nameplate Capacity https://puc.sd.gov/commission/dockets/electric/2019/el19-003/CRWindAppPermit.pdf
This link is to one of the photo’s of the Generator Nameplate Capacity, that is not a 2.3 MW Generator Nameplate Capacity
https://puc.sd.gov/commission/dockets/electric/2019/el19-003/CRWindAppPermit.pdf
link to compliant 1 LNTE
https://puc.sd.gov/commission/dockets/electric/2019/el19-003/KMComplaint1.pdf
CRW did not get approval for any material changes prior to construction. SDCL 49-41B-4 “… Any facility, with respect to which a permit is required, shall thereafter be constructed, operated, and maintained in conformity with such permit including any terms, conditions, or modifications contained therein”
The Waiver Request should be denied, CRW should be fined $10K/day (read complaint 6 early start) SDCL 49-41B-34 and the Commission should revoke the Permit SDCL 49-41B-33. Label
CRW/NextEra “bad actors” and tell CRW and NextEra do not come back to SD.
Kristi has it right. It’s time to stop coddling the elite lawbreakers. I suspect there are a few CAFOs out there that should be shut down as well. Are the gold and uranium exploration permits being followed? If not, these companies need to clear out. After watching corporate lawbreaking get a kiss on the cheek by a string of AGs, it’s time to stop putting pot smokers in jail and reserve that space for the real crooks.
But what if the pot smokers are breaking the laws? Hmmm…..interesting conundrum.
We should make the most of what we have, but do it right in all parts of the lifecycle. If we are not going to recycle, then we need to implement the best mining practices for uranium, thorium, lithium, cobalt, the rare earths, and the various critical elements used in solar power.
Yes, implementing those practices will be more expensive upfront, but they will avoid other issues in the long term.
Let’s play McTaggart’s game of hypothesizing falsehood accusations and inventing solutions to things that aren’t and won’t happen, shall we?
~ “If nuclear reactors aren’t being built that don’t pollute the Earth for millions of years, nuclear reactors should be banned forever.”
I’ll play. Let’s not ramp up energy storage with lithium and cobalt that are mined without the proper permitting…or without any plan or ability to recycle them. Let’s not build a whole lot of wind and solar power when the critical elements nor toxic elements are being isolated or recycled.
News flash, the half-life for elements used in wind and solar power and batteries to stay toxic is…infinite. If my math is correct….infinity is a really, really, really long time!
OR…..we could actually do things to rectify the situation. Let’s recycle the nuclear fuel to consume what is radioactive and reduce what needs to be isolated. Let’s isolate toxic elements from renewables, or recycle them, or break them apart into smaller elements with reactors or accelerators. Let’s power the recycling of renewables with carbon free nuclear energy.
If you want to complain about nuclear reactors today, great. Then build the reactors that satisfy your conditions: Walk-away safety, load following to help renewables, built-in recycling, fewer exchanges of nuclear fuel required, less waste.
Then with the help of nuclear, renewables could actually be sustainables.
You are stuck in renewables VS nuclear. It’s not 1979. As Barbara Walters says, “This is 2020.”
It is nuclear AND renewables.
Nuclear and Renewables….We Are On It.
You assert, “If we’re not going to recycle … ” and then proceed to blah blah blah about things that play off that false assertion. News Flash! We are recycling!
In general: If McTaggart isn’t going to offer realistic solutions to problems and valid links to his assertions, his comments should he disregarded in total. Bob, you have an ulterior motive that permeates your posts and infiltrates them with misdirecting falsehoods. Stop it before the new decade is poisoned with even more of your BS. LWIY
Really, it’s time to start filling the prisons with the real criminals. I want enough space in prisons so we can deal with corporate lawbreaking and the politicians who coddle them. It’s out of control. If that means letting the pot smokers out, fine. We need to send a message to the repeat offenders in the corporate world that we aren’t accepting their corruption any more.
We are not recycling. I am surprised that you think all of the wind turbine blades are being recycled. They are not. In fact, you have yourself not provided a link showing that they are all being recycled. Same thing with batteries and solar cells.
We do not recycle our nuclear fuel either, but that is a political choice not to do what is required (including paying for it). Hardly seems fair to complain about millions of years of storage when the technology is available. Basically it should be a 100-300 year problem with 1/20-th of the volume, not a million year problem with a greater heat load to deal with. Fusion would still generate radioactive waste with a 100-200 year problem if that worked.
I do sympathize, as both you and I aspire for that recycling to occur, if not to design renewables and energy storage with recycling in mind. Today the once-through cycle is simply cheaper….particularly when one ignores costs associated with the back-end of the life cycle. Perhaps 3d-printing with biodegradable materials will help reduce some of those costs and issues in the future.
Both renewables, storage, and nuclear have issues with their lifecycles. I am for doing what is necessary to solve them. But that will take more time, effort, and money than people think at the moment to do well.
Do I need a link to show you that powering the recycling of renewables without emitting carbon is a good idea?
Chris and the gang at PUC do everything and I mean everything in their power to destroy the state. First with dirty oil pipelines and then this crap with penalizing the company because of the poor weather conditions. Anything to pad the wallets of utility companies that should never ever be private. When the hell will we wake up to demand these crooked vampires be owned and operated by the people.
These criminal wind hooligans and their farcical windmills need to be punished, and punished soundly I do mean. Although Mr. jerry has an interesting take about public owned utility companies. How would we the public go about buying one of these monsters?
Well, I sort of agree with jerry, too. The wind company here did far, far less than what passes for everyday activity at most of the favored industries in the state, and that includes the utilities.
The lack of real regulation is a problem, and so is treating various sectors differently, depending on if the industry is favored by the GOP or donates money to Republican causes.
I sort of agree with Mr. Pay, too. But what if the industry was favored by a Democrat Party, or donated money to Democratican causes? The same should apply, I’m just sayin…
The problem is systemic. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is trying to get at it with her plans to stop or severely limit the amount and power of $ in politics.
But it’s not only politicians in these systemic problems. As Don says, the big crooks need to be properly punished as the law allows. If the law is not stringent enough, make it so. Let no one, No One, buy their way out of prison.
Perhaps Obama’s most egregious failure was not prosecuting any crooks from the 2008 recession or GWB’s crooks. That threw the door wide open! 🤬🤬🤬