The state would be poised to gain a $300 million wind farm under a bill given resounding initial approval Wednesday.
The measure would provide a sales tax exemption for the purchase of turbines, towers and other wind-farm components — a tax break that nearby states Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma have parlayed into a wind-energy boom.
Meanwhile, Nebraska has lagged behind, ranking 26th of the 39 states that generate wind energy, despite having the fourth-best wind resources in the country.
Iowa generates more than 13 times as much wind power as Nebraska — 4,536 megawatts to 337. And Nebraska ranks last among its neighboring states.
Proponents of Legislative Bill 104 said the state needs to act now if it wants to develop its abundant wind resources, because a major wind-energy incentive — a federal production tax credit — is scheduled to expire at the end of the year.
“This discussion is extremely important and time-sensitive. It's as important as any decision being made this year,” said State Sen. Galen Hadley of Kearney.
He said Nebraska just lost a major company, Facebook, to Iowa in part because the tech giant wanted access to wind energy to power a proposed data center. Facebook has a corporate goal of utilizing 25 percent renewable energy.
Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha, who made LB 104 his priority bill, said wind farms provide a needed boost for rural areas.
Lathrop said a 200-megawatt wind farm planned near Allen in northeast Nebraska would provide lease payments to local landowners of $10,000 to $15,000 per turbine, create 200 construction jobs and 12 to 16 permanent jobs, and pay $700,000 a year in local taxes.
TradeWind Energy will decide soon whether it will build in Nebraska or elsewhere, Lathrop said, so the Legislature cannot wait.
But critics, including Gov. Dave Heineman, have said the measure and another wind bill should wait until next year, after the Legislature completes a major study of state tax breaks.
Sens. Beau McCoy of Omaha and Charlie Janssen of Fremont said that there's no guarantee that the federal incentives won't be renewed and that tax breaks for wind farms should be weighed against other tax breaks.
Heineman has said lawmakers should provide tax breaks for retirees, military veterans and other regular Nebraskans before giving a tax exemption to an out-of-state wind company. TradeWind has its headquarters in Lenexa, Kan.
McCoy questioned how the Legislature could afford LB 104, and its $7.8 million estimated cost, along with another wind bill, LB 402, that is designed to help smaller turbine farms. That measure has a $6.7 million estimated cost.
The Legislature has about $41 million to spend on new bills, and spending one-third of that on wind is probably too much, McCoy said.
But Sen. Heath Mello of Omaha, chairman of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee and sponsor of LB 402, said both bills can be passed and funded with some adjustments.
Some groups, like the Nebraska Farmers Union and Center for Rural Affairs, have said they support LB 402 because it would create more economic development in rural areas by requiring purchases from Nebraska to qualify for tax breaks. The Sierra Club supports both bills.
Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha criticized LB 104 as being only about investors. But several rural senators said any wind energy development provides an unmatched opportunity to help revitalize small towns.
2013年4月25日 星期四
2013年4月21日 星期日
Coal no longer king but still important
Nearly two decades after he was made redundant on his 30th birthday, John Hays still carries around the metal discs that he, his father and grandfather used to clock on and off from shifts in South Yorkshire collieries.
Now 49, the former miner was among the organisers of a mock funeral for Lady Thatcher in Goldthorpe, near Barnsley, last week, giving locals a final chance to protest about the near-destruction of the UK coal industry in the 1980s.
While much of the discussion since Thatcher’s death has focused on the political legacy of her showdown with the miners and its impact on northern economies, less attention has been paid to the implications for energy policy.
“There’s still coal down there but we bring it in from abroad,” says Mr Hays. “What’s the sense in that?”
Britain still has 2.3bn tonnes of underground coal reserves, and 852m tonnes on the surface – equivalent to 60 years’ supply. But much of this has been sealed off as the number of deep-pit mines has fallen from 170 at the start of the 1980s to just four. This will soon become three after the formal closure of Daw Mill colliery in Warwickshire, which was hit by a big fire earlier this year.
Critics point to the survival of large-scale coal mining in the US – sometimes called the Saudi Arabia of coal – as evidence that Britain shut down its industry prematurely.
Despite efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels because of their role in global warming, latest government figures show that coal still accounts for about 40 per cent of electricity generation.
This was up 10 percentage points from a year earlier, reflecting the competitiveness of enduring of coal-fired power compared with natural gas despite the rising cost of environmental regulation.
Nearly 17m tonnes of coal was produced in the UK last year, the bulk from opencast mines. But this was dwarfed by imports of 44.8m tonnes, an increase of more than a third from 2011. Most of this comes from Russia, the US and Colombia.
Despite big productivity gains in surviving UK mines over the past 20 years, imported coal remains cheaper.
Tim Yeo, chairman of the energy and climate change parliamentary committee and former Conservative minister, says the industry has probably been in irreversible decline since the 1970s. Thatcher “may have accelerated the process with her tough line but it did not alter the direction of travel”.
Some pits closed that could have survived for a time – Tower Colliery in south Wales produced successfully for 15 years after a workers’ co-operative bought it.
But Gordon Banham, chief executive of Hargreaves, which closed its Maltby mine this month after geological problems, said: “Unfortunately I don’t see there’s a future for deep mining in the UK long term.”
“When these mines close, they close for ever,” he added. Sinking a new shaft could cost 500m.
However, Hargreaves, a big coal importer, is more optimistic about the outlook for surface mining. The Aim-listed company last week announced a 42m share issue to acquire more UK open cast mining assets. “There’s still a lot close to the surface,” said Mr Banham.
Some power generating companies believe domestic coal production should be encouraged for energy security reasons as North Sea oil and gas output declines. Energy imports exceeded UK production in 2011 for the first time since 1974.
Four power generators agreed last year to write off parts of loans in a restructuring of UK Coal, which supplies 17 per cent of coal-fired electricity needs, to avoid its collapse.
Now 49, the former miner was among the organisers of a mock funeral for Lady Thatcher in Goldthorpe, near Barnsley, last week, giving locals a final chance to protest about the near-destruction of the UK coal industry in the 1980s.
While much of the discussion since Thatcher’s death has focused on the political legacy of her showdown with the miners and its impact on northern economies, less attention has been paid to the implications for energy policy.
“There’s still coal down there but we bring it in from abroad,” says Mr Hays. “What’s the sense in that?”
Britain still has 2.3bn tonnes of underground coal reserves, and 852m tonnes on the surface – equivalent to 60 years’ supply. But much of this has been sealed off as the number of deep-pit mines has fallen from 170 at the start of the 1980s to just four. This will soon become three after the formal closure of Daw Mill colliery in Warwickshire, which was hit by a big fire earlier this year.
Critics point to the survival of large-scale coal mining in the US – sometimes called the Saudi Arabia of coal – as evidence that Britain shut down its industry prematurely.
Despite efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels because of their role in global warming, latest government figures show that coal still accounts for about 40 per cent of electricity generation.
This was up 10 percentage points from a year earlier, reflecting the competitiveness of enduring of coal-fired power compared with natural gas despite the rising cost of environmental regulation.
Nearly 17m tonnes of coal was produced in the UK last year, the bulk from opencast mines. But this was dwarfed by imports of 44.8m tonnes, an increase of more than a third from 2011. Most of this comes from Russia, the US and Colombia.
Despite big productivity gains in surviving UK mines over the past 20 years, imported coal remains cheaper.
Tim Yeo, chairman of the energy and climate change parliamentary committee and former Conservative minister, says the industry has probably been in irreversible decline since the 1970s. Thatcher “may have accelerated the process with her tough line but it did not alter the direction of travel”.
Some pits closed that could have survived for a time – Tower Colliery in south Wales produced successfully for 15 years after a workers’ co-operative bought it.
But Gordon Banham, chief executive of Hargreaves, which closed its Maltby mine this month after geological problems, said: “Unfortunately I don’t see there’s a future for deep mining in the UK long term.”
“When these mines close, they close for ever,” he added. Sinking a new shaft could cost 500m.
However, Hargreaves, a big coal importer, is more optimistic about the outlook for surface mining. The Aim-listed company last week announced a 42m share issue to acquire more UK open cast mining assets. “There’s still a lot close to the surface,” said Mr Banham.
Some power generating companies believe domestic coal production should be encouraged for energy security reasons as North Sea oil and gas output declines. Energy imports exceeded UK production in 2011 for the first time since 1974.
Four power generators agreed last year to write off parts of loans in a restructuring of UK Coal, which supplies 17 per cent of coal-fired electricity needs, to avoid its collapse.
2013年4月18日 星期四
Optimism, uncertainty
Naval Station Everett, under Coury's command since 2010, should be
well positioned for the future as the Navy moves 60 percent of its ships
to the Asia-Pacific region by 2020. The question is how new federal
budget constraints under sequestration will affect those plans and the
Navy's desire to increase its ship count from 286 to 295 by then, Coury
said.
Sequestration has meant lots of belt tightening as the Navy focuses on "mission-critical" items, he said. That means no more overtime pay and reductions in groundskeeping, utilities and morale, welfare and recreation services for sailors.
The budget turmoil also forced Coury to eliminate community outreach efforts this year, so the base won't have its annual open house and ship tours in July.
"We are adapting and we will succeed," Coury said.
But for the Navy's 200,000 civilian employees, 14 upcoming furlough days will equal a 20 percent discretionary pay cut, he said. The Navy recognizes that hardship and is working to minimize it.
Naval Station Everett's three frigates, USS Ford, USS Rodney M. Davis and USS Ingraham, will be decommissioned in coming years and will be replaced by three destroyers, Coury said. The plan was announced last year, but the Navy hasn't finalized the moves while sequestration forces it to juggle dollars.
Another wild card: The Base Closure and Realignment Commission will meet in 2015 and 2017 to consider which military bases to keep and which to recommend for closure.
Regardless, "Naval Station Everett stands fully quipped to meet that transition," Coury said.
Despite the new budget reality, Coury said Naval Station Everett and its ships are moving ahead with intensive energy conservation efforts as part of the Navy's Great Green Fleet. The USS Nimitz demonstrated the use of 100 percent biofuel for its jet wing during recent RIMPAC exercises in Hawaii, he said. Last year, the USS Ford became the first Navy ship to sail on a biofuel blend.
Shoreside, Coury has been leading environmental stewardship efforts. The base has plans to install a wind turbine and electric-vehicle charging stations. Its diesel-powered vehicles run a B20 biofuel blend and its gasoline-powered vehicles run on E85 ethanol. Energy consumption around the base has been reduced by 28 percent to 90 percent and its buildings rate among the top 25 percent most efficient in the world.
"We're doing our part to conserve," Coury said.
After Coury finished his speech, Port of Everett executive director John Mohr asked how Everett could "BRAC-proof" Naval Station Everett from possible closure.
Coury couldn't make specific suggestions, but he said the community's support of Snohomish County's second-largest employer, which pumps about $318 million into the local economy, is critical to keeping Naval Station Everett open and the county's support of the base and its sailors is "tremendous."
"But again, I must remain apolitical on the issue," he said. Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson expressed an optimistic tone.
"This is the base that most bases try to become," he said. To call Naval Station Everett "'the sailors' choice' isn't just a mantra. This is the No. 1 base for where all sailors want to be assigned."
Sequestration has meant lots of belt tightening as the Navy focuses on "mission-critical" items, he said. That means no more overtime pay and reductions in groundskeeping, utilities and morale, welfare and recreation services for sailors.
The budget turmoil also forced Coury to eliminate community outreach efforts this year, so the base won't have its annual open house and ship tours in July.
"We are adapting and we will succeed," Coury said.
But for the Navy's 200,000 civilian employees, 14 upcoming furlough days will equal a 20 percent discretionary pay cut, he said. The Navy recognizes that hardship and is working to minimize it.
Naval Station Everett's three frigates, USS Ford, USS Rodney M. Davis and USS Ingraham, will be decommissioned in coming years and will be replaced by three destroyers, Coury said. The plan was announced last year, but the Navy hasn't finalized the moves while sequestration forces it to juggle dollars.
Another wild card: The Base Closure and Realignment Commission will meet in 2015 and 2017 to consider which military bases to keep and which to recommend for closure.
Regardless, "Naval Station Everett stands fully quipped to meet that transition," Coury said.
Despite the new budget reality, Coury said Naval Station Everett and its ships are moving ahead with intensive energy conservation efforts as part of the Navy's Great Green Fleet. The USS Nimitz demonstrated the use of 100 percent biofuel for its jet wing during recent RIMPAC exercises in Hawaii, he said. Last year, the USS Ford became the first Navy ship to sail on a biofuel blend.
Shoreside, Coury has been leading environmental stewardship efforts. The base has plans to install a wind turbine and electric-vehicle charging stations. Its diesel-powered vehicles run a B20 biofuel blend and its gasoline-powered vehicles run on E85 ethanol. Energy consumption around the base has been reduced by 28 percent to 90 percent and its buildings rate among the top 25 percent most efficient in the world.
"We're doing our part to conserve," Coury said.
After Coury finished his speech, Port of Everett executive director John Mohr asked how Everett could "BRAC-proof" Naval Station Everett from possible closure.
Coury couldn't make specific suggestions, but he said the community's support of Snohomish County's second-largest employer, which pumps about $318 million into the local economy, is critical to keeping Naval Station Everett open and the county's support of the base and its sailors is "tremendous."
"But again, I must remain apolitical on the issue," he said. Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson expressed an optimistic tone.
"This is the base that most bases try to become," he said. To call Naval Station Everett "'the sailors' choice' isn't just a mantra. This is the No. 1 base for where all sailors want to be assigned."
2013年4月8日 星期一
Interior chief sees many wind farms in US future
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar voiced optimism Friday that the
nation’s first offshore wind farm will soon break ground after more than
a decade of delays and be followed by more off the Atlantic coast.
“I think there’s a good chance it will happen before the end of the year,” Salazar said of the Cape Wind project. Speaking in an AP interview a few weeks before he leaves office, he also claimed gains as secretary in tightening oversight of offshore drilling after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. “I think the coziness with industry that was there when I came into the department is gone,” he said.
A former U.S. senator from Colorado, the 58-year-old Salazar ran the Interior Department throughout President Barack Obama’s first term.
Along with changes at the offshore drilling agency, Salazar pushed for renewable energy such as solar and wind power and helped to settle a longstanding dispute with American Indians.
The Interior Department manages more than 500 million acres in national parks and other public lands, as well as more than 1 billion acres offshore. The department oversees energy, mining operations and recreation and provides services to 566 federally recognized Indian tribes.
Under Salazar’s watch, Interior authorized more than 40 solar, wind and geothermal energy projects on public lands that officials say will provide enough electricity to power more than 4 million homes.
Salazar called his four-year tenure a “joyful journey” that took him from the Everglades to the Arctic. Still, he said he was eager to return to his family and his Colorado ranch.
He spoke of progress in the long-delayed Cape Wind project off the Massachusetts coast because developers have agreements with utilities to purchase about 75 percent of the power the project is expected to generate and are working to get more. The $2.6 billion project off Cape Cod was the first offshore project to win a federal lease when Salazar gave his approval in 2010.
But the project has stalled because of lawsuits and difficulties obtaining financing. Developers plan to build 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound, but they’ve faced bitter opposition since they first proposed the project in 2001.
Opponents have filed several pending lawsuits and argue the project will ruin the pristine sound and endanger marine traffic and animal life. They also say the project’s electricity is significantly overpriced and a terrible deal for ratepayers.
Cape Wind says the cost is worth the project’s benefits, including jobs, decreased pollution and the creation of a reliable power source near a busy coastline.
Salazar said the delays and lawsuits that have plagued Cape Wind illustrate the difficulty of developing new energy sources. Regulatory improvements made in recent years should help other offshore projects follow more quickly, he said.
“Nobody had really focused on offshore wind energy until President Obama came into office,” he said. “Cape Wind wasn’t even processed under the authority of this department. They ended up in this morass where it took them 10 years to work through that process.”
Now, with so-called wind energy zones designated in the Atlantic Ocean, a host of wind farms should crop up from Maine to Virginia, Salazar said. “We’re very, very excited by the progress that has been made and we look forward to a robust offshore wind industry in the Atlantic.”
On offshore drilling, Salazar defended the unprecedented shutdown of offshore drilling after the BP spill. In office, he also renamed and revamped the agency that oversees offshore drilling after the April 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 workers and led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
Business groups and Gulf Coast political leaders said the six-month shutdown crippled the oil and gas industry and cost thousands of jobs. Salazar said the moratorium was the right decision.
Now, regulators “are being a lot smarter about what we lease” on the Outer Continental Shelf, he said. “We are making sure that people are kept accountable and that problems are detected and fixed as rapidly as possible.”
“I think there’s a good chance it will happen before the end of the year,” Salazar said of the Cape Wind project. Speaking in an AP interview a few weeks before he leaves office, he also claimed gains as secretary in tightening oversight of offshore drilling after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. “I think the coziness with industry that was there when I came into the department is gone,” he said.
A former U.S. senator from Colorado, the 58-year-old Salazar ran the Interior Department throughout President Barack Obama’s first term.
Along with changes at the offshore drilling agency, Salazar pushed for renewable energy such as solar and wind power and helped to settle a longstanding dispute with American Indians.
The Interior Department manages more than 500 million acres in national parks and other public lands, as well as more than 1 billion acres offshore. The department oversees energy, mining operations and recreation and provides services to 566 federally recognized Indian tribes.
Under Salazar’s watch, Interior authorized more than 40 solar, wind and geothermal energy projects on public lands that officials say will provide enough electricity to power more than 4 million homes.
Salazar called his four-year tenure a “joyful journey” that took him from the Everglades to the Arctic. Still, he said he was eager to return to his family and his Colorado ranch.
He spoke of progress in the long-delayed Cape Wind project off the Massachusetts coast because developers have agreements with utilities to purchase about 75 percent of the power the project is expected to generate and are working to get more. The $2.6 billion project off Cape Cod was the first offshore project to win a federal lease when Salazar gave his approval in 2010.
But the project has stalled because of lawsuits and difficulties obtaining financing. Developers plan to build 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound, but they’ve faced bitter opposition since they first proposed the project in 2001.
Opponents have filed several pending lawsuits and argue the project will ruin the pristine sound and endanger marine traffic and animal life. They also say the project’s electricity is significantly overpriced and a terrible deal for ratepayers.
Cape Wind says the cost is worth the project’s benefits, including jobs, decreased pollution and the creation of a reliable power source near a busy coastline.
Salazar said the delays and lawsuits that have plagued Cape Wind illustrate the difficulty of developing new energy sources. Regulatory improvements made in recent years should help other offshore projects follow more quickly, he said.
“Nobody had really focused on offshore wind energy until President Obama came into office,” he said. “Cape Wind wasn’t even processed under the authority of this department. They ended up in this morass where it took them 10 years to work through that process.”
Now, with so-called wind energy zones designated in the Atlantic Ocean, a host of wind farms should crop up from Maine to Virginia, Salazar said. “We’re very, very excited by the progress that has been made and we look forward to a robust offshore wind industry in the Atlantic.”
On offshore drilling, Salazar defended the unprecedented shutdown of offshore drilling after the BP spill. In office, he also renamed and revamped the agency that oversees offshore drilling after the April 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 workers and led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
Business groups and Gulf Coast political leaders said the six-month shutdown crippled the oil and gas industry and cost thousands of jobs. Salazar said the moratorium was the right decision.
Now, regulators “are being a lot smarter about what we lease” on the Outer Continental Shelf, he said. “We are making sure that people are kept accountable and that problems are detected and fixed as rapidly as possible.”
2013年4月6日 星期六
Shopping for wind turbines and bridges commences in Silver Bay
The City of Silver Bay met Monday night and made quick work of its agenda. In less than fifteen minutes the council members had approved the minutes of the last meeting, paid the bills, made all necessary decisions and were back in their cars headed home. All councilors, Mayor Joanne Johnson, City Administrator Lana Fralich and City Attorney Pete Morris were present for the meeting.
City employees in Silver Bay, Beaver Bay and those who work at the Silver Bay Veterans Home will be receiving A Workplace Accident and Injury Reduction training later this month. The AWAIR training, developed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration became mandatory for many businesses and entities in 1991.
The council authorized City Administrator Lana Fralich to seek quotes from manufacturers for the city's wind turbine. The original budget for the plan is between $130-140,000, but grants have been sought through Minnesota Power's Conservation Improvement Program Funding for community wind power projects. The CIP funding will provide a maximum of $20,000 for an approved wind energy project. Additionally, grant funding has been sought from the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation, an organization that supports economic development, education, arts and culture, environmental, and social welfare programs in North Shore communities.
Last spring the floods destroyed the bridge spanning the Beaver River at the Silver Bay Golf Course. A new bridge will replace the old one and Monday night the council gave permission to start the process of seeking quotes for the manufacture of the 70-foot long, 12 foot wide bridge. The total cost of the bridge, installation, engineering and geotechnical work is unknown to date, however, according to Fralich, the cost of the project is expected to come in below the insurance cap of $150,000.
A wind farm developer is making one more effort to persuade state regulators that the turbines it wants to build will meet Wisconsin's noise standards.
In a filing with the state Public Service Commission, Emerging Energies said it was providing new information demonstrating it could comply with a 45-decibel noise standard at night for nearby homes.
But the PSC left the door open for taking a fresh look at the case, saying in its denial that it was under a court-imposed deadline to make a final decision on the matter. The PSC ruling invited the developer to do what it's doing now - to come back with more information showing it can comply with the state's noise limit for wind turbines.
Using nighttime curtailment of wind turbines for affected homeowners can be done to comply with the night noise limit, said Tim Osterberg, one of the principals involved with developer.
Emerging Energies' new analysis concluded that, depending on the turbine used, the overall electricity production from the project would be reduced by 1.6% or 4.5%, but that the restriction "will not negatively impact the project to a degree that makes the project uneconomic," Osterberg said in a filing.
In its decision, the PSC said it was concerned about the use of curtailment as a tool to meet the noise standard. The commission said that, while it recognized that curtailment was allowed by the state's wind turbine siting rules, it concluded that "it is prudent to ensure compliance with applicable audible noise limits using conservative computer modeling before construction."
In other words, developers should design a wind farm so it can comply with the noise standard without the use of curtailment, the commission decided.
City employees in Silver Bay, Beaver Bay and those who work at the Silver Bay Veterans Home will be receiving A Workplace Accident and Injury Reduction training later this month. The AWAIR training, developed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration became mandatory for many businesses and entities in 1991.
The council authorized City Administrator Lana Fralich to seek quotes from manufacturers for the city's wind turbine. The original budget for the plan is between $130-140,000, but grants have been sought through Minnesota Power's Conservation Improvement Program Funding for community wind power projects. The CIP funding will provide a maximum of $20,000 for an approved wind energy project. Additionally, grant funding has been sought from the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation, an organization that supports economic development, education, arts and culture, environmental, and social welfare programs in North Shore communities.
Last spring the floods destroyed the bridge spanning the Beaver River at the Silver Bay Golf Course. A new bridge will replace the old one and Monday night the council gave permission to start the process of seeking quotes for the manufacture of the 70-foot long, 12 foot wide bridge. The total cost of the bridge, installation, engineering and geotechnical work is unknown to date, however, according to Fralich, the cost of the project is expected to come in below the insurance cap of $150,000.
A wind farm developer is making one more effort to persuade state regulators that the turbines it wants to build will meet Wisconsin's noise standards.
In a filing with the state Public Service Commission, Emerging Energies said it was providing new information demonstrating it could comply with a 45-decibel noise standard at night for nearby homes.
But the PSC left the door open for taking a fresh look at the case, saying in its denial that it was under a court-imposed deadline to make a final decision on the matter. The PSC ruling invited the developer to do what it's doing now - to come back with more information showing it can comply with the state's noise limit for wind turbines.
Using nighttime curtailment of wind turbines for affected homeowners can be done to comply with the night noise limit, said Tim Osterberg, one of the principals involved with developer.
Emerging Energies' new analysis concluded that, depending on the turbine used, the overall electricity production from the project would be reduced by 1.6% or 4.5%, but that the restriction "will not negatively impact the project to a degree that makes the project uneconomic," Osterberg said in a filing.
In its decision, the PSC said it was concerned about the use of curtailment as a tool to meet the noise standard. The commission said that, while it recognized that curtailment was allowed by the state's wind turbine siting rules, it concluded that "it is prudent to ensure compliance with applicable audible noise limits using conservative computer modeling before construction."
In other words, developers should design a wind farm so it can comply with the noise standard without the use of curtailment, the commission decided.
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