1/10/10 Monday, Monday. The PSC decides on the fate of residents whose homes are inside of the Glacier Hills Project
WISCONSIN WIND TURBINE NOISE LOG, TOWN OF BROWNSVILLE, WI.Sunday, January 10, 2010:7:45AM. Wind SW 6 knts, 18 rpms @ 1000’ from turbine 4. dBA 51.8, dBC 67.0. Wind is low, blade speed high, low ambient sound, therefore very loud turbine sounds.Turbines 4, 6 & 73 loudest, but also I hear 3a, 74a +. My wife did not sleep well and was up several times “trying” to get tired. Two other nights this week similar happenings for her. I woke up with a headache and it continues. Again, it is rare for me to have a headache.I would guess my cortisol level is again high as the last week or so my food seems like it is in my throat and I need to keep drinking water to keep the food down. My weight is getting close to my all time high.3:50 PM Wind SW, 18.6 rpms 14 knts, peak gusts 21. The sound of the wind is now loud so it covers much of the turbine sounds even though the jet sound is still heard. My wife just asked if the wind is strong because the ringing in her ears is loud.Yes, the volume of the ringing sound varies."---Gerry Meyer, Invenergy Forward Energy wind farm resident, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin
"Let me be clear, however, as to why I’m here. I’m here because of people who are suffering as a consequence of being near wind turbines. Adverse health effects are occurring as we speak.
My proposal is this: Authoritative guidelines must be developed, and the only way to do that is a well-designed epidemiological study conducted by arm’s length investigators, mutually agreeable to all sides. That must be done – as well as check for low frequency noise. In the meantime, let us listen to and help the victims. Anything less would be an abandonment of responsibility by government."
---Testimony of Dr. Robert McMurtry to the Ontario Legislative Assembly Standing Committee. [Click here to read more ]
Glacier Hills Wind Farm: Yellow circles indicate 1000 setback around non-paticipating homesPSC ruling expected on Glacier HillsState regulators on Monday will rule on We Energies' $413.5 million proposal to build the largest wind farm in the state.
The Milwaukee utility is proposing a 90-turbine wind power project, the Glacier Hills Wind Park, northeast of Madison. It would be the largest wind farm in the state, slightly bigger than the 88-turbine Blue Sky Green Field wind farm We Energies began operating near Fond du Lac last year.
Glacier Hills would generate enough power over a year to supply 45,000 typical homes, the utility says.
The proposal has run into opposition from local residents who are concerned about the impact of wind turbines on their property values as well as a Chicago wind-power developer that is proposing an alternative project.
We Energies needs this and other renewable energy projects to be built in order to comply with a state mandate that 10% of Wisconsin's electricity come from renewable power sources by 2015.
A provision in the proposed Clean Energy Jobs Act, introduced this week, would accelerate that mandate, requiring the utility to meet that 2015 requirement two years earlier, in 2013. The bill would require that the mandate ramp up so that 25% of the state's power supply would come from wind turbines, biomass projects and other renewable power sources by 2025.
In the Glacier Hills case, the environmental group Clean Wisconsin is calling on the Public Service Commission to require the Milwaukee utility to shut down some of its older coal-fired power plants as a way to help it comply with renewable power mandates.
Shutdowns would make it easier to attain renewable targets and may be in order, the group says, because decreasing power sales linked to the recession and the addition of power plants in Port Washington and Oak Creek mean the state no longer faces power supply challenges.
The state Public Service Commission last month agreed to open an inquiry into whether the state's utilities should have to shut down or idle older plants because of the state has an ample supply of power.
Meanwhile, Invenergy LLC of Chicago is asking that the commission, if it approves the We Energies project, also require the utility to enter into negotiations to buy power from Invenergy's proposed wind farm in southern Brown County. Invenergy built the Forward Wind Energy Center near the Horicon Marsh.
We Energies spokesman Brian Manthey said the utility believes it has made the case for Glacier Hills.
"It's definitely one of the best locations in the state to build a wind farm," Manthey said. There's a nearby link to the high-voltage transmission system, he said, and "it's a good wind resource and low population density. That all points to why this is a very, very good location."
The BPRC Research Nerd
in Glacier Hills Wind Farm, Invenergy, Landowner wind farm lease, Wind farm health effects, Wisconsin wind farm, wind farm property values, wind turbine noise, wind turbine ringing in ears, wind turbine sleep
|
Comments Off
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend