Bismarck Tribune - North Dakota News - Exec says zoning ordinance hurts chance at wind development

Exec says zoning ordinance hurts chance at wind development

Jul 31, 2005 - 23:16:09 CDT

By DALE WETZEL, Associated Press Writer

North Dakota's leading wind power developer is much less likely to construct wind turbines in a Dickey County township because of newly approved zoning rules that affect placement of wind towers, an executive says.

"We can go elsewhere. The options we have are quite plentiful," said John DiDonato, a wind energy development director for FPL Energy of Juno Beach, Fla.

FPL Energy built the state's largest wind farm, a 41-tower operation that has been operating for two years in LaMoure County, in southeastern North Dakota. It is also developing projects in Burleigh County, north of Bismarck, and neighboring Oliver County.

Supporters of the zoning rules in Spring Valley township, in western Dickey County, say the regulations are intended to protect the rights of wind developers as well as landowners.

The regulations require wind turbines to be set back from the property lines of neighboring landowners, to ensure their own ability to host wind towers is not restricted.

However, the setback rules may be automatically waived if the affected property owners agree, said Brad Crabtree of Ashley, who helped draft the regulations. Backers of the zoning rules have even drafted a proposed landowner revenue-sharing formula.

"We have tried to make this as practical as possible," Crabtree said. "I feel just as strongly this is protective of the commercial rights of wind developers, not just of property rights."

The proposed wind farm would produce 70.5 megawatts of power. FPL Energy, Otter Tail Power Co. of Fergus Falls, Minn., and Enbridge Inc., a pipeline company based in Calgary, Alberta, would be partners in the development, according to Minnesota Public Utilities Commission filings.

Otter Tail would buy the wind farm's power production, then sell it to Enbridge, which is one of Otter Tail's largest power customers.

DiDonato said the companies have already agreed on a price for the wind power the Dickey County project would generate. The township zoning rules would require construction of more roads and power-transmission cable, which would make it less financially attractive to put the towers in Spring Valley township, he said.

"Unfortunately, this comes down to cost-benefit. We have a negotiated price ... that we've agreed to. We know what our revenues are going to be," DiDonato said. "Any upward movement in costs, associated with longer roads or longer cables, is just going to be really be difficult for us to swallow."

If the project goes ahead, the chances that the wind turbines will be located in Spring Valley township "is very low," he said. Of the 47 turbines contemplated for the project, 13 were originally slated for placement in the township, he said.

Construction of the project may not begin soon in any case. Otter Tail Power is asking the Minnesota PUC to count the development as part of a wind-energy quota that Minnesota state regulators are promoting. The state's utilities intend to supply 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2015.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce is questioning whether the North Dakota wind project should be allowed to count towards Otter Tail's renewable-energy objective. Otter Tail, in regulatory filings, said it will not go ahead with the Dickey County project unless it gets credit toward the objective.

The Minnesota PUC, which will decide the question, has not yet addressed the issue, said Janet Gonzalez, an agency energy manager.

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Comments

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