Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Latest Information for the Proposed Marshall / Fulton County Wind Farm (map update - 11/30/2011)

In a recent presentation to the Plymouth Rotary Club, NextEra’s project manager indicated that they are looking at roughly 63 wind turbines, two-thirds of which would be located in Marshall County with the balance in Fulton County.

The wind turbine technology they would use has not yet been decided, however GE's 1.6 MW, 100 meter rotor diameter wind turbine is a new standard in wind generation. Its total height is approximately 80 meters to the hub (262 feet) and a 48.7 meter blade (159 feet) for a total height of 421 feet. More information on these wind turbines can be found here.

About the Proposed Project
          100 megawatt Wind Facility
          Take approximately 90 acres of farmland out of production
          Would generate enough electricity to power 28,000 Indiana homes
          Enable the reduction of emissions of other generating units by
        More than 349,900 tons of carbon dioxide annually (the equivalent of removing approximately 62,240 cars from the road)
        More than 1,200 tons of sulfur dioxide annually
        More than 350 tons of nitrogen oxides annually
          Will require no water to generate electricity
          Will prepare a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPP) for Construction Activities
          $180 + million investment Marshall and Fulton counties
          $23 million in escalating lease payments to landowners
          $22 million in property tax revenue
          $14 million in salaries and benefits for about 8 full time employees
          Purchase of goods and services for the life of the plant
          Support for agricultural community
          Places no demands on local infrastructure
          Compatible with agricultural land use

The map below shows NextEra's proposed wind farm location.  Click on the map to enlarge.


5 comments:

  1. Unless the OCAS system is utilized, placing the wind farm east of Argos threatens Indiana's first Official Dark-Sky Preserve and one of the darkest publicly assessable properties in Indiana.

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  2. Interesting, thank you for that comment. It looks like the farm would be a couple miles West of the preserve, but we'll make sure NextEra is aware, and see if they could mitigate possible visual impacts.

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  3. This issue is the white lights during the day and red at night. At any given time, a certain number of photo sensors malfunction making observing imposable. Of course the red is fine unless you plan to do any astrophotography. Then it ruins the CCD image.

    There is a sprint tower north of the Warsaw Astronomical Observatory near North Webster that malfunctions from time to time. The cellular tower on old 30 near Etna Green malfunctions too and you can see it at the park when it does. :(

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  4. http://www.ocasinc.com/turbine-avoidance-solutions.cfm
    OCAS system is the new method incorporating radar to alert airplanes. they also shut down the wind turbine if a flock of birds approaches. the video demonstrates the process.

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  5. The OCAS does look like a nice system, but I don't think it has FAA approval. I'll ask NextEra to contact the Preserve's Director (Mr. Stephan) to better understand the potential impacts and discuss alternatives.

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