Large-Scale Windfarms, Transmission Lines Continue to Face Hurdles from Public

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Research by Industrial Info Resources (Sugarland, Texas)--Windfarms sure are popular. New ones are being planned all the time. But large-scale windfarms are not popular with everyone. They take up a lot of space, they are noisy, and they kill birds and bats. Wind developers are continuing to place their windfarm projects on hold or have abandoned them altogether, because the windfarms and the transmission lines they are waiting for are going through the usual lengthy permitting process.

Pattern Energy Group (Houston, Texas) recently placed a 300-megawatt windfarm in Colorado on hold because there is no available transmission line and no power purchase agreement. Columbia Energy Partners (Vancouver, Washington) also abandoned its two windfarms due to too many environmental and regulatory issues.

A large windfarm can include anywhere from a dozen to more than 100 turbines spread out over hundreds of acres. The wind turbines are interconnected with a power collection system that sends electricity by high-voltage transmission line to the utility grid.

A windfarm that is too close to a home or a business is a major headache for the developers: they reduce property values, cause air traffic control problems, and make noises like "rotating drums," a "woosh," "spinning dryer" and so on.

And then there is the transmission line issue, one of the blocks standing in the way of renewable energy. T. Boone Pickens abandoned his 4,000-megawatt windfarms in Texas because there was no way to get the transmission lines approved for his projects.

The power industry continues to face public resistance to transmission lines, with opponents citing destruction of the landscape, mountains, wilderness, nature's quietness, and the not-in-my-backyard ("NIMBY") arguments.

Transmission line developers have a lot to do. They need approval from federal and state regulators, and must contend with siting and permitting issues and negotiations with landowners, who often objects to the projects.

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