Plans by the City of Woodstock to build a wind turbine would make it the first city in Pipestone County to own a municipal wind turbine.
The project that would generate clean energy and be a source of revenue for the city, referred to as Grange Wind Gen LLC., took another step forward last week as the County Board granted a conditional use permit (CUP) to Corey Juhl of Juhl Wind Inc., manager of the project, and the City of Woodstock, owner of the project.
The single 750 kw Emergya wind turbine will be located six miles west and one mile north of the City of Woodstock on land owned by Thomas Newgard, in the southeast quarter of section 34 in Grange Township.
Stephanie LaBrune, with the planning and zoning office, said the project’s location was chosen due to an electrical line buried near the site that the tower could connect to and because Sioux Valley Energy wanted to keep it west of a nearby county road.
The turbine will have a hub height of 78 meters and a rotor diameter of 52 meters, making the overall height of the tower 104 meters, according to the findings of fact conclusions and recommendations by the Pipestone County Planning Commission.
The document also states that Newgard’s land is agriculturally zoned and a lease agreement has been reached with the owner and adjoining landowners.
LaBrune said there were no concerns expressed during the required public hearing on Monday, Oct. 12, but the Pipestone Airport did express concern about whether the project had been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
“Currently they do not have FAA approval,” LaBrune said. “They’re expecting that to come within a week, week and a half.”
The CUP requires Woodstock and Juhl Wind to obtain an FAA permit and Kyle Krier, planning and zoning administrator, said he recently received an email from Juhl stating that he needed a copy of the Board approval in order to proceed with the FAA permitting.
Though microwave beam studies are not required by county ordinance, Krier requested one be conducted for the project area to determine if the turbine would interfere with microwave forms of communication, such as two-way radios.
The group chose not to conduct the study based upon the cost and because others have been conducted in the area and Krier agreed with that rationale.
“They used information from one that had previously been done in that vicinity and I agree that would probably be adequate,” Krier said.
Juhl had approached the Board in late July to request permission to pursue a community-based energy development (C-Bed) project as is required by state statute. C-Bed projects must be structured to ensure that a majority of the financial benefits of the project are kept local.
“The next step is for them to obtain a land use permit from our office,” Krier said.
At that time, the planning and zoning office will verify the location of the turbine, and if necessary, post any 911 signs for any driveways created due to the project.
“And then they go through with construction,” Krier said.
Juhl and Mike Manderscheid, mayor of Woodstock, would not comment on the details of the project at this time, but Manderscheid did indicate that the turbines could arrive in as little as two weeks.
“I’d like to make sure it’s up and running first,” Manderscheid said. “Until then I’d like to hold pat.”
