Walleye Wind Farm developers have assured Rock County Commissioners they will not abandon the renewable energy source at the end of its life expectancy.
A decommissioning agreement states that they will remove turbines and related equipment.
Mike Weich, project manager for NextEra Energy and owners of Walleye Wind Farm, based out of Juno Beach, Florida, addressed county commissioners via phone during their Oct. 6 meeting.
NextEra project development manager Tom Von Bische joined Weich on the call about the agreement and decommissioning plan required by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.
“Essentially what it says is we’re required to remove all the facilities — not just the turbines — but the cables below ground down to the level of 48 inches below grade and return the entire area to conditions comparable to conditions today prior to us even installing it,” Weich said.
“We wanted to have complete transparency with you on how we will do this years from now.”
Funding of the possible decommissioning in 2030 will be completed through a bond NextEra plans to purchase next year. The bond amount, held by the state of Minnesota, is based on the wind farm’s fair market value and is reviewed every few years.
Included in NextEra’s requested construction permit submitted to the PUC is the removal of the seven non-operational wind turbines in Beaver Creek Township. NextEra purchased the wind rights from previous Walleye Wind Farm developer Renewable Energy Systems (RES) in 2019.
“We recognize in the last two years other developers in the region have irresponsibly disposed of their blades in landfills. We do not do that,” Weich said.
“There is a bunch of environmental regulations that MPCA regulates and we have to document that to the state.”
NextEra plans to remove the defunct turbines in the summer of 2021, at the same time construction is tentatively scheduled to begin on the 40 new turbines in western Rock County.
Preliminary maps are currently available on the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission website. A final turbine site map will be unveiled later this year
NextEra will oversee the dismantling of the turbines to salvage and sell certain components for reuse. “The blades themselves cannot be salvaged; they must be recycled,” Weich said.
NextEra works with certified Fiberglas recyclers.
Commissioners have received numerous questions about what happens to the turbines once they are no longer operational.
“No matter what you tell some of these guys, they do not believe in this decommissioning,” said Commissioner Stan Williamson.
“They say, ‘Thirty years from now these companies will be broke and bankrupt — they won’t have any money and they (turbines) will never come down.’”
NextEra has developed wind farms in 47 different states over the past decade.
“We’ve experienced a lot and we have learned along the way how to become good neighbors,” Welch said.
An office opened on East Main Street in Luverne where people can stop or call with questions. Weich’s phone number is 561-694-3987.
Chamber spotlight
NextEra was the featured business during the Luverne Area Chamber’s Oct. 15 virtual business spotlight.
“The big takeaway is the economic impact that they will have in this community next summer,” Chamber director Jane Lanphere said after the meeting.
“What we have to do is leverage that into dollars within Luverne by making sure our businesses do what they can to make these visiting workers welcome.”
Rock County’s $150 million project is the first of five wind farms NextEra plans for Minnesota.
Among the points of discussion last week were:
•Preliminary maps showing turbine placement are available on the Minnesota PUC website.
•A road maintenance agreement calls for roads returned to the current or a better condition prior to construction.
•There will be no blinking lights atop the turbines. A radar system will activate red warning lights when an aircraft approaches the wind farm.
•Electricity collected in the project substation will be directed to Northern States Power and delivered to Minnesota Municipal Power Agency for use in the southwestern part of the state.
•Birds: U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is surveying the wind farm area to mitigate impact on wildlife.
NextEra submitted permit application to the PUC earlier this year, proposing a 111-megawatt wind farm located in Beaver Creek Township and in portions of Springwater, Luverne and Martin townships.
The PUC is expected to issue a ruling on NextEra’s certificate of need and construction permit requests in mid-2021.
Construction on the wind farm is tentatively scheduled for August through December 2021.