County hears wind turbine plans for area

Windmills could be coming to southern Taylor County.

Representatives from RWE, a German multinational energy company headquartered in Essen, Germany, came to the Taylor County Executive Committee meeting on April 25 to talk about the planned project and its potential impact. RWE has 20,000 employees over 30 countries.

Shane Felske of RWE and consultant Matthew Boor said they wanted to come to the county and introduce themselves and give an overview of what is being proposed.

Committee member Chuck Zenner said he had been approached by the company’s representatives who had been referred to him by town of Little Black chairman Dan Hoffman. Felske said they had previously met with the Little Black town board about the proposal.

“Nobody likes to be blindsided,” Felske said, as to their reason for approaching Taylor County.

Felske and RWE are primarily involved with a wind energy project in northern Clark County. The region was selected because of the average windspeed of the area which he said was conducive to wind power. In addition, there is the ability to tie into the electric grid through the transmission lines that run through that area.

While their project is primarily in Clark County, Felske said they could include portions of Taylor County indicating there were contracts being signed by some county property owners.

Felske cautioned committee members that despite working on the project since early 2021, at this point there would need to be additional steps and regulatory approval by the Public Service Commission, before any construction could begin.

“Nothing we are talking about is definitely happening,” Felske said of the project still being up in the air. At the same time, he emphasized the company is serious about developing wind energy in the region.

See COUNTY on page 4 Felske said that they started leasing land in 2021 and so far have leases from 45 landowners covering about 12,000 acres in northern Clark County and into the town of Little Black in Taylor County. They said the target will be about 15,000 acres under lease.

The wind turbines they seek to install will generate 4.5 megawatts each with the total project to include 25 to 35 turbines. They noted that the turbine technology has changed over the years to allow the use of larger turbines requiring fewer of them in an area.

“We will have larger turbines that are further apart,” Boor said.

While there would be restrictions on building homes too close to the windmills, Boor said this would not restrict other uses such as farming put to the base of the towers themselves. In addition, there would be no restrictions on constructing non-residential outbuildings near the structures.

Felske noted the lifespan of the turbines is about 30 years.

“What happens after 30 years?” Zenner asked. Boor cited PSC codes which include decommissioning guidelines which would require the company to either have in escrow or be bonded to return the property to its pre-construction state. This is similar to the restoration requirements in place for gravel pits.

Felske noted that it is more likely that given the investment in the tower, rather than being taken down at the end of 30 years, they would instead be re-powered with new generators placed on top. He said that while they have not had any of the projects in other places reach the 30 years, they have some that are around 15 years old that are in the process of being re-powered with upgraded generators.

They noted that even if the company were to go under, each tower represents several million dollars in assets which would be valuable to be picked up by other wind energy companies.

s Committee member Scott Mildbrand questioned if any of the power produced by these turbines would be used here in Taylor County. “Is electricity going to be cheaper in Taylor County because you are here?” Mildbrand asked.

Felske said the output of the towers would be enough to power 50,000-60,000 homes. This would feed into the power grid and be available for providers such as Dairlyland Power (which provides electricity for Taylor Electric Cooperative) and other companies to purchase.

The bigger impact won’t be in electric bills, but in the taxes imposed by PSC requirements on large scale projects. Under the formula communities that host wind and solar systems over 50 MW will receive $4,000 per megawatt annually. This would be broken down to $1,667 going to the local town government per megawatt and $2,333 per megawatt going to the county government. At 4.5 megawatts per tower, this is additional revenue for the town of about $7,500 per year for each tower and about $10,500 per year in revenue for the county per tower.

In addition, Felske noted there would be an economic benefit to the region when the wind turbines are being erected as well as for the personnel to do maintenance on them.

Mildbrand noted that from the time the agenda was posted he has gotten calls from people with concerns about the towers. Mildbrand questioned if they presented any hazard to humans.

Felske said there is sound generated from the turbines and that the hum may impact some people. However Boor noted there has not been data that has linked human health issues to the sounds of the turbine. Under PSC regulations, the turbines are not allowed to produce more than 50 decibels during the day and 30 decibels at night.

“Your AC unit is louder,” Felske said. Typical air conditioning units have a decibel output of between 78 and 82 decibels. Felske said it is also noteworthy that the wind turbine is located in the middle of a field with setbacks to houses being nearby.

Felske said they are required to run sound tests as part of the PSC regulations.

Zenner asked about how much expansion of the project could go into Taylor County. Felske said they would not go any further north than Stetsonville. In addition, under the airport zoning rules, they would not be allowed within three miles of the airport.

Zenner noted that a major complaint of projects such as this is that they take farmland out of production.

Boor said that after the initial construction period, the impact is relatively small with farmers able to farm directly to 18 to 20 feet in front of the base. Boor noted that the base itself would comfortably fit within the county board meeting room with the tower having a diameter of about 15 feet. He estimated the impact would be a loss of a half acre to an acre total per tower with access driveways. Mildbrand cited the county’s recent decision to reject going into a carbon credit program for the county forest saying they determined it was a “sham” as far as helping the environment. “Will wind turbines really help with global warming and things like that? Is it going to help or is it just one of those things we do to feel good?” he asked.

Project representatives said you can’t draw a straight a line, however, they noted that air we breathe circles around the globe and has an impact. Rather than focusing on potential environmental impacts, Boor said it makes good economic sense with the construction cost being offset within four to five years and turbines lasting years beyond that before needing to be replaced.

Administrative coordinator

In addition to talking about the potential of wind turbines in the town of Little Black, members of the executive committee began the discussion about giving more authority to county administrative coordinator Nicole Hager.

All counties in Wisconsin are required to have either an administrative coordinator, a hired county administrator, or an elected county executive. The powers and responsibilities of administrators and executives are spelled out in state law.

However, there is wide flexibility among county boards across the state as to what powers they delegate to the administrative coordinator. Taylor County, with its emphasis on county board committees, has generally been less specific in spelling out the duties and authority of the administrative coordinator. This informal system has resulted in headaches for the county in recent years especially in regard to personnel matters.

To help make things smoother going forward, Hager researched what is done in other counties that use administrative coordinators and developed a template from a nearby county that spelled out the duties and responsibilities.

Hager said the intent is not to take anything away from the department heads or the county board but to give the county the ability to more quickly react.

For example, under current county rules, if a department needs additional hours for something, it must go to the personnel committee. Under the template proposed, the coordinator would have the authority to authorize this to allow the work to be done more quickly.

Mildbrand said he was in favor of implementing a more detailed list of duties and responsibilities for the coordinator, noting that doing so would, in his opinion, make it so the county would not need an administrator.

Committee members will go through the template presented and prepare a proposal to be brought to the full county board for the board meeting scheduled to be in July.

it going to help or is it just one of those things we do to feel good?”

— Scott Mildbrand about the global environmental benefits of wind energy projects

BRIAN WILSON/THE STAR NEWS Students at Holy Rosary school in Medford celebrated Arbor Day on April 26 with a program put on by members of the fourth grade class. Ella Anderson (right) read a poem “Trees-a Gift From God” and Woodjini Kohl read “Trees Give Us Paper.” Students in the class shared facts about trees and the history of Arbor Day before leading the school in singing “The Tree In the Woods.”