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January 12, 2002

Current Events: Wind Energy

Wind turbines a turbulent issue for area

Many northern Michigan communities stuck between enthusiastic wind energy supporters, vocal opponents

Kelly Alexander said he had concerns when the wind turbines were proposed.

   In one corner, wind energy proponents. They cite increasing power needs; harnessing a free, never-ending resource in a non-polluting way; and weaning ourselves from dependence on coal, petroleum and the Middle East. An added bonus: Open space preservation and income for farmers, who lease their land to wind turbine operators.

   “In general, the public and visitors that come to the village have given us positive comments,” said Jeffrey Lawson, village manager of Mackinaw City, which has been host to two wind turbines since December 2001.

   In the opposite corner, residents who want to preserve the natural beauty and rural character of the area. By necessity, wind turbine generators must be erected in open, elevated areas, and that typically means they are prominent on the landscape.

Record-Eagle/Jim Bovin Nancy Ferguson of Charlevoix is standing on a hay field where wind turbines could be built.

   Neighbors cite noise, light strobing through the spinning turbines, and potentially decreased property values from having the tall turbines nearby.

   “They don’t belong in northwest Michigan,” said Nancy Ferguson, who has led an effort to keep a proposed turbine out of Charlevoix County’s Eveline Township.

   “We have something here. People come here and say this is the prettiest place they have ever seen,” she said. “Are we willing to give that up for the little bit of power this is going to provide?”

   Between the enthusiastic wind energy supporters and the vocal opponents stand many northern Michigan communities, trying to determine whether the benefits indeed outweigh the costs and how best to plan for a landscape altered by huge towers with blades.

   ‘A good thing’

   More wind turbines are coming to the area — or at least that is the hope of Bay Windpower of Lowell. The company, which has operated two, 256-foot wind turbines in Mackinaw City since December 2001, has plans for three more in the village this year and another across the Straits in St. Ignace.

   The company also is working preliminarily with property owners and local governments in many areas of northern Lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.

   Wind is the world’s fastest-growing power source, though that may have more to do with how much room it has to grow, and the saturation of coal- and petroleum-based power across the globe. Denmark, Germany and the rest of Europe have expanded use of the resource since the 1970s and have a considerable head-start over the United States.

   In America, states such as Minnesota, Iowa, Texas, Colorado and California are much farther along than Michigan in harnessing wind energy.

   But the commodity is still in its infancy. In 2000, wind-driven turbines produced less than 0.1 percent of America’s electricity supply, compared to 52 percent generated from coal, U.S. Department of Energy statistics show.

   Recent studies indicate the price of wind power is comparable to that of coal power, when factoring in the environmental and health costs brought about by burning coal.

   Wind power absolutely has its supporters. Michigan’s first commercial wind turbine generator began operating in 1996 near Traverse City. Traverse City Light & Power had no trouble finding 110 homeowners and 15 businesses willing to pay about $7.50 more per month on their bills for the “green energy.”

Vander Veen

   The two towers operating in Mackinaw City similarly sold out, through a Consumers Energy program allowing customers to pay 3 cents a kilowatt hour more to help support renewable energy.

   “We need new power, and we have limited choices,” said Bay Windpower president Richard Vander Veen.

   “Wouldn’t it be a good thing to focus in on ways in which power can be generated renewably, with no pollution — clean air, clean water, protecting our Great Lakes and farmland? These are the attributes wind power brings.”

   Uninvited in Eveline

   Perhaps nowhere is the conflict between wind power supporters and those who believe it’s not a good fit for northern Michigan more clearly defined than in Charlevoix County’s Eveline Township.

   Bay Windpower proposed to install a wind turbine generator nearly 400 feet tall on farmland there. But vocal opposition to the project caused the company to put its plans on hold earlier this year.

   “It would have been the tallest free-standing structure between here and the Renaissance Center,” said Ferguson, a township resident who helped lead the effort against the project.

   Nevertheless, Ralph Richardson would welcome it. He is one of the farmers who signed a 30-year lease with Bay Windpower to provide for the wind turbine generator in Eveline. Richardson stood to receive $400 a month once the tower was built and operating.

Ralph Richardson wants two wind turbines to be built on his property, but neighbors have managed to stop the project for now.

   “It keeps the land in open space,” he said. “It stops the sprawl that’s going on. It’s also a source of income. And it’s well-known how environmentally good it is.

   “It’s land that adjoins a landfill. It provides a suitable use for land that is being farmed, and wants to continue to be farmed.”

   Ferguson disagrees. She said wind turbines will mar the picturesque views for which the region is renowned. She also questioned the noise allowances for the turbines.

   “What’s proposed here is (up to) 65 decibels,” she said. “The supporters like to say, ‘That’s like a person talking to you.’ Let me stop over to your house, while you sleep, and let me talk for a couple of hours.”

   Ferguson and others are seeking to recall two township officials, and have filed a lawsuit against the township, over how it developed zoning for wind turbine generators. A revised ordinance is in the works in the township, which will almost certainly go before voters in a referendum.

   Bay Windpower in August informed township officials they were withdrawing their requests for the Eveline project.

   “We have communities where we have been invited,” Vander Veen said then. “We want to be a good, solid neighbor. Let’s work with communities who want to work with us.”

   Vander Veen said he hopes for a reconsideration in Eveline Township at some point in the future.

   A fair profit

   Why is northern Michigan the focus of wind development in the state? Because the Straits area and along the Lake Michigan shoreline is where the best, most consistent wind blows, Vander Veen said. Michigan overall ranks 14th in the nation among states for wind power potential.

   Vander Veen, an attorney, said that after working on electrical restructuring laws and air pollution issues, he was interested in starting a business that adhered to the “triple bottom-line” of sustainable economic growth, public health and energy security, and environmental friendliness. He formed Bay Windpower with Tom Fehsenfeld, president of the Crystal Flash petroleum company, and Suttons Bay resident Steve Smiley.

So what’s in a watt, anyway?    The watt (named for James Watt, who invented the steam engine) is an instantaneous unit of electrical power.    Watts describe the rate at which electricity is being used at a specific moment. For example, 100 watts describes the amount of electricity that a 100-watt light bulb draws at any particular moment.    A kilowatt is 1,000 watts. For a kilowatt hour, think of 10, 100-watt light bulbs, lighted for one hour. The average household uses between 8,500 to 17,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, ranging from a home that is neither air conditioned nor heated with electricity to an “all-electric” home.    A megawatt is 1 million watts. It’s the amount of electricity needed to light 10,000, 100-watt light bulbs.    A megawatt hour is the amount of power necessary to light those 10,000 light bulbs for one hour.

   After searching for an appropriate location, the company found a suitable parcel owned by the village of Mackinaw City and zoned industrial. It installed its first two turbines at a cost of $1.5 million each. The turbines, which went online in December 2001, provide 4 million kilowatt hours per year, enough electricity to power about 600 homes per year. The company leases the property from the village, and in turn will pay the village $400 a month per turbine, as well as provide electricity for municipal buildings at a low, set fee.

   Bay Windpower has a contract with Consumers Energy to provide up to nearly 36 megawatts to the Consumers power grid via its turbines. Bay Windpower also will receive 3 cents per kilowatt hour for the energy it produces, provided enough customers sign into the renewable energy program for the power produced by each turbine.

   Assisting in making such a project feasible is a federal subsidy for wind power, 1.5 cents per kilowatt hour produced.

   “There is a decent and fair profit to be made in doing this,” Vander Veen said. “(But initially) it comes out of the pocket of the people who make the investment in the first place.”

   Michigan has only about 5 percent of the wind energy potential of the nation’s windiest states, North Dakota and Texas. So why invest in building wind turbines here? Because of the proximity to the Consumers Energy power grid, the interconnected system of supplying power to 61 of 68 Lower Michigan counties, Vander Veen said. A similar system of substations, power lines and other transmission capabilities out of North Dakota to the energy-craving industrial Midwest is currently next to non-existent, he said.

   Sixty decibels from sleep

   Vander Veen said the state’s three current commercial wind turbine generators in Mackinaw City and Traverse City are “universally loved.”

   “More than 98 percent of the people think they are just fine,” he said.

   Kelly Alexander, who lives just outside of Mackinaw City, is one of the 2 percent.

   Bay Windpower’s turbines spin only a few thousand feet from Alexander’s home on Trails End Drive, where he lives with his wife and three children. His elderly parents live in the house next door, a key reason why Alexander said he decided to build a home there seven years ago, and refused to sell at a large profit when land was being sought for a possible Indian casino near Mackinaw City a few years ago.

   Alexander said he and some other neighbors had concerns when the wind turbines were proposed. But in meeting after meeting, they were assured by village and Bay Windpower officials that they would have no problems.

   “Obviously, when you’ve never seen one before, it’s hard to envision what it’s going to look like,” he said. “We had concerns, but we went by their word. Who am I to stomp my feet? I’m not an engineer.”

   Alexander said the noise levels recorded on his property do not exceed the 60 decibels allowed for the turbines in Bay Windpower’s special-use permits. But that does not mean it is not a problem at times, he said.

   “It’s definitely a mechanical sound, and it doesn’t dissipate over distance, as a voice would,” he said. “I had my 15-year-old niece staying with us and she was sleeping on the couch; she couldn’t sleep because of the sound of the windmills.”

   Alexander said the turbines have diminished his and his family’s quality of life — and he has no doubt it has diminished his property’s value.

   “Even with a race car track, that’s not 3 a.m.,” he said. “At least a mill has operating hours. (The turbines’) operating hours are whenever the wind blows.

   “I shudder to think what three more wind turbines is going to be like.”

   Alexander urges residents and government officials in other areas to carefully examine any proposals, and how they might impact a neighborhood or community.

   “I believe in wind power,” he said. “Are there places these can go? I don’t think there’s any question. I think the planning commissions and boards should carefully look at where they can put these things. Make the setbacks that protect the residential areas more appropriate.

   “It might cost them a little more, but do it right the first time.”

   Mackinaw City village president Jeffrey Lawson said the village will consider farther setbacks for any future projects.

   But Bay Windpower already has a site plan in place with allowances in it that the company is following, he said. Zoning setbacks for wind towers in the village are currently half of the tower’s height, including its turbines in a vertical position.

   “We were trying to place them in an area that was aesthetically correct and as far away from adjoining neighbors as possible,” Lawson said. “We feel for the most part we have done that. But there are areas that are affected.”

   Vander Veen said his company will welcome public feedback as it moves forward with other projects.

   “We want to listen to the neighbors’ concerns and interests, before they are put up in the first place. Then put them up in accordance with a site plan and special-use permit, that sets out specifications for what they will look like, what the sound will be, what the limitations will be.”

   Protests and planning

   Other states have their own wind-power controversies. In the Cape Cod area of the East Coast, a 28-square-mile wind farm proposed offshore has led to the formation of The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, a group of thousands of residents and businesses who believe the project will negatively alter viewsheds and the community’s character forever.

   The zoning committee for the town of Lincoln, Wis., significantly altered the conditional use permits for Madison Gas and Electric wind towers, and issued a moratorium on any new wind-tower construction, following resident complaints after the company’s first two wind developments.

   As often occurs with societal changes, courts are being asked to weigh in on wind turbine development issues in northern Michigan.

   In addition to the Eveline Township lawsuit by wind tower opponents, a landowner is suing the Cheboygan County planning commission over denial of a special-use permit for wind towers. Planners there are continuing to work on zoning restrictions for wind tower sites, prior to the issuance of any permits.

   In Charlevoix County’s Bay Township, a farming couple has sued the township in U.S. District Court, claiming their constitutional rights were violated when the township denied them the ability to install wind turbine generators.

   Otsego County Commissioners in December amended the county’s zoning ordinance to regulate wind turbine generators, despite concerns raised by some. That ordinance calls for wind turbines only in the county’s forest recreation, agriculture and business districts; 20 acres of property minimum to install wind generators, 5 acres for each installed; setbacks of one-and-a-half times the height of towers; and noise from generators not to exceed 65 decibels, about the noise level associated with conversation in a restaurant or office. By comparison, a very quiet rural area is about 30 decibels whereas a chain saw is about 120.

   Otsego planning and zoning administrator Tacy Schlink said commissioners worked on the ordinance for up to a year. Plans call for a six-member committee, including members of the public, to continue to study wind turbine generator issues and come back to the county board this month with more information.

   “This is a starting point; not a finishing point,” Schlink said. “This gives us an opportunity to begin looking at these structures. Without anything in place, we wouldn’t be able to regulate them at all.”

   Charlevoix County’s Evangeline Township, adjacent to Eveline, has written its opposition to wind turbines into its master plan. The plan states, “Discourage windpower generating facilities and structures as undesirable encroachments on the rural character of the township.”

   Charlevoix County Planner Larry Sullivan said it would be difficult for a local government that outright banned wind towers to win if the landowners filed a court challenge.

   Though many may not want a wind turbine near them, or any other power-generating source, the nation’s and Michigan’s need for new power grows unabated.

   Vander Veen points to President Bush’s energy plan, which notes the United States needs 350,000 megawatts of new power within the next 20 years. Michigan, which has 20,000 megawatts of capability, needs an additional 12,000 in the next 20 years, Vander Veen said.

   The state currently gets 70 percent of its power from coal; 20 percent from nuclear plants; 9 percent from natural gas, and only 1 percent from all renewables, including hydroelectric and wind power.

   “We have three wind turbines operating now in Michigan, and all three are completely sold out, at a premium,” Vander Veen said. “It demonstrates that these pilot programs can work; that people believe in environmental stewardship.”

   Keith Matheny is the reporter for Antrim, Charlevoix and Emmet counties. He can be reached at (231) 536-0345, or at tcre_keith@yahoo.com

Light and Power’s generator a success

   What resulted was Michigan’s first commercial wind turbine — at the time, the largest in the United States.

Record-Eagle/Jim Bovin Filmmaker Rich Brauer, of Traverse City, supports the use of wind turbine power.

   “It shows the commitment of our residents to help support green energy, and that’s a good statement for the environment,” said Jim Cooper, key accounts and marketing manager for the city-owned utility company.

   The wind turbine generator in Leelanau County’s Elmwood Township measures 230 feet to the top of a blade. Originally projected in 1996 to produce 1.1 million kilowatt hours of power annually, the turbine instead has averaged about 800,000 for the past six years, Cooper said.

   That’s not to say it hasn’t been a success, Cooper said.

   “All of the feedback from our customers is that they like it,” he said.

   Light and Power has 110 homes and 15 businesses signed on to pay 1.58 cents more per kilowatt hour to support the turbine.

   “It’s an average of about $7.50 a month more,” he said. “We have over 30 people on a waiting list, wanting to sign on to the program if anybody drops out.”

   While the actual electricity used by participants in the program is not necessarily generated by the wind turbine — its electricity joins the power pool — those who sign on believe it’s the thought that counts.

   “I’m a big believer in the long term,” said Traverse City filmmaker Rich Brauer, whose production company is enrolled in the program. “It has to do with protecting the environment and being a good steward of the resources we have been given.”

   Consultants estimate the turbine in six years of operation avoided fossil fuel emissions of about eight tons of nitrous oxide, 22 tons of sulfur dioxide and 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide, so-called greenhouse gases that scientists believe contribute to global warming.

   “Anytime we can harness resources that have no negative byproduct, that’s a no-brainer,” Brauer said.

   Brauer said he saw thousands of wind turbines on a recent trip to California.

   “It makes our one seem laughable,” he said.

   Cooper said Light and Power has no plans to build any new wind turbines, having just been involved in some large capital projects, including a new, natural-gas generator in the Kalkaska area.

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