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Residents share wind farm concerns with PSC

By JILL SCHRAMM 6 min read

Residents living around Basin Electric Cooperative's wind farm south of Minot shared their concerns about a plan to upgrade the facility with the North Dakota Public Service Commission at a hearing in Minot Thursday, Aug. 20.

The repowering project is meant to extend the life of the wind farm, installed in 2009. Basin Electric representatives testified the repowering project will have minimal adverse effects on the environment, wildlife and the welfare of the citizens of North Dakota.

However, the hearing drew residents who cited existing negative impacts from noise and shadow flicker from the turbines.

Ryan King, environmental coordinator with Basin Electric, reported a sound study on the repowering project found 23 inhabited residences fall outside the PSC's current sound criteria, which limits noise to 45 decibels at inhabited residences 100 feet away.

The wind farm, installed in 2009, was built before the state had established noise limits. The PSC's noise restrictions don't govern the repowering project, and existing easements already permit the sound levels where they exceed the current sound criteria, King said. However, Basin Electric is voluntarily working to obtain waivers from each landowner with an exceedance, he said.

Of the 23 residences, 11 involve nonparticipating landowners, who live near turbines but don't have turbines on their property. Twelve are participating landowners with easement agreements to host turbines. Basin Electric has obtained waivers from the 11 nonparticipating landowners and nine waivers at this point from the 12 participating landowners, King said.

Jason Honcharoff, whose mother is a participating member, noted the lease agreement is only for the three wind turbines on their land. A different wind turbine within 100 feet of his home is the source of the noise exceeding 45 decibels at his residence.

"How can we be a participating member of that wind tower when we 've never signed anything for that wind tower? So, she has not signed the noise waiver and does not plan to," Hancharoff said of his mother. "So, as the wind tower stands now, it makes noise, and it's there. But once they improve it, it's going to make more noise, which would be against what the Public Service Commission has put in place. So, I do not believe that without signing that waiver, they can upgrade that one."

Commissioner Sheri Haugen-Hoffart responded the PSC has legal questions regarding waivers generally with this project that it will be looking into. As part of that investigation, PSC staff indicated Honcharoff's issue will be discussed to the extent that it is relevant to the proceedings in this case.

Brian Lee, Sawyer, who has worked with landowners concerned about the wind farm upgrades, mentioned a landowner in the same situation as Honcharoff. Additionally, a landowner who purchased property with a wind farm easement does not want to continue the easement because of both shadow flicker and noise, he said. Another landowner who acquired family property with an easement also wishes to not have the tower anymore, he said.

"I would highly recommend looking at these sites and going to visit these places so that you can see how they affect the people," Lee said. "They've had 16 years of experiencing this, and what they're saying is that we don't want another 20 years of this, or we don't want this to be transferred to our family members, or it affects our property values. So, I think those are very important issues that need to be addressed."

Residents Travis Samson and Kim Kabanuck also spoke against the project. Kabanuck called it a property rights issue, citing both shadow flicker and noise from a turbine.

"Basin Electric refers to me and several of my neighbors as nonparticipating landowners,” he said. "But when you have all the negative effects from them, you are somewhat, actually, a participating landowner. I guess I would just consider myself to be an unpaid, participating landowner."

He also questioned the results of Basin Electric's commissioned studies.

The PSC assesses wind facilities under the generally accepted industry standard of no more than 30 hours per year of shadow flicker at an occupied location, King said. A study commissioned by Basin Electric found one nonparticipating residence to exceed 30 hours of shadow flicker per year, and the cooperative obtained a waiver from the landowner, he said.

Gabriel Faul, a participating landowner, spoke positively of his experience with Basin Electric.

"They've always been good to deal with, for me," he said, adding the easements have been good for his family. Farming has been difficult with the highest input costs ever this year, an eight-year drought and low commodity prices, Faul said.

"We're pretty much living on a prayer every time we get a rain - to even get a crop out there. So, any extra income that we can generate to keep the family farm going would be very beneficial," he said.

Brad Doll, general manager of Verendrye Electric Cooperative, also supported the project.

"This wind farm repowering will extend the life of some of our existing generation sources and, as a benefit, will add a small amount of capacity to the existing facility. Without this upgrade, attrition will slowly render this wind farm obsolete. New generation will need to be added at a much higher cost to our members," Doll said.

It also would increase the output slightly, from 1.5 megawatts to 1.6 megawatts per turbine, for a total of 123.2 megawatts overall, according to Basin Electric information. The upgrade includes installing longer blades, adding 32.8 feet to the height of each wind tower for a new height of 421.8 feet.

The old blades will be cut up on site and sent to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for recycling, said Kyle Weisbeck, director of mechanical engineering at Basin Electric. The most common type of recycling is grinding blades back to fibers for use in concrete strengthening or using it as a fuel aid in a cement kiln, he said.

Basin Electric anticipates beginning construction this fall and completing the project before the end of 2027, Weisbeck said. He added Basin Electric will have a construction coordinator on site who will work with the contractor, Minnesota-based Mortenson Construction.

The company has offered inconvenience payments to residents who aren't part of the project but are within a half mile to compensate for noise, traffic and dust during construction, Weisbeck said.

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