The Nebraska Legislature recently passed a bill to ease
regulations for wind power. The change could affect wind energy in the
state, but there are still other factors challenging renewable energy projects.
For years Nebraska wind energy proponents have lamented the
fact that the state lags so far behind its neighbors in producing wind power.
Kansas and Iowa have installed four to five times the amount of wind energy
capacity as Nebraska—even though Nebraska is consistently ranked among the top
states for wind power potential. A new law seeks to change that.
“It's really a reduction of paperwork,” said Rich Lombardi,
a lobbyist with the Wind Coalition, which represents wind developers and trade
groups. Under the new law, private renewable energy developers no longer have
to find a buyer for their power before they build the project, nor do they have
to prove that their project won’t compete with other, more traditional energy
sources (like a coal-fired power plant). Proponents say removing these
regulatory hurdles will make Nebraska more competitive for wind development.
“The timing couldn't be better. I think we're going to see
some really significant growth around the state on this,” Lombardi said.
Wind proponents like Lombardi say the time is now because
federal subsidies will start to disappear. Proponents tout the economic
benefits wind projects will bring to rural Nebraska in the form of jobs, lease
payments and property taxes. Because Nebraska’s own electricity needs are
already met, this law targets projects that plan to sell electricity from
Nebraska to the regional market, the Southwest Power Pool.
“We have continued to see a tremendous growth in renewables
on the SPP system,” said Lanny Nickell, SPP vice president of engineering. And
he expects that to continue. Any new energy project has to work with the
Southwest Power Pool to figure out how to get their power to market. In the
last year, Nickell said they’ve seen a pretty dramatic growth, “at least in the
amount of interest for new wind generators in Nebraska.”
While Nickell isn’t exactly sure why there’s more interest,
it’s likely related to the easing regulations and planned new transmission in
Nebraska. The Southwest Power Pool has been working with the Nebraska Public
Power District to build a new 225-mile-long transmission line through the Sandhills.
NPPD says the new line, called the R-Project, will improve their reliability, reduce
congestion, and support future energy projects, including wind.
But not everyone supports the project. Amy Ballagh is one of
several multigenerational ranching families in the Sandhills who have united to
oppose the R-Project.
“I have stated to NPPD from the beginning that I feel
passionately that this is not a good move for the state of Nebraska just
because of these Sandhills being so unique,” Ballagh said.
The R-project transmission line
will cross miles of land in the Nebraska Sandhills. (Photo by Ariana Brocious,
NET News)
Many who oppose the project, like Ballagh, will be directly
impacted by the transmission line crossing their property. Ballagh said she’s
worried about damage to the sensitive Sandhills wildlife and environment.
“Everything comes with a price and increasing the wind
energy and the transmission in the Sandhills is going to be bigger than just
the dollar cost,” Ballagh said.
Tom Kent, vice president and chief operating officer for the
Nebraska Public Power District, said they’re doing an environmental analysis
for the R-Project and they aim to work with landowners to minimize impact. A
group of landowners in Cherry County is actively seeking wind power projects.
Kent said the R-Project may help get new wind power in the Sandhills to the
regional market.
“Part of the purpose of the project is to put large
transmission capacity out in a part of the state that has very good wind
resources, so if those resources do get developed at some point in the future
the transmission's available to support that,” Kent said.
Those transmission hurdles are one reason a lot of
Nebraska’s current wind farms have been built in the eastern part of the state,
where it’s easier to connect to existing transmission lines. But in more
populated areas, that can also cause conflicts.
Judy Daugherty lives about 20 miles south of Lincoln near
the town of Hallam.
“My house is right here on this corner,” she said, pointing
to a map of Lancaster and Gage counties on her dining room table. “Every one of
these little blue dots was going to be a turbine. And number 40 was the one
that was going to be like 800 feet from our front door,” Daugherty said.
Daugherty is part of a group of landowners called Prairie
Wind Watchers (formerly Stop Hallam Wind) that opposed a wind farm over
concerns about harm to their property values, health and safety, and sound and
visual impacts from the wind turbines. Last November, Lancaster County approved
an ordinance for sound and distance requirements that effectively prohibits
wind farms in the county.
Daugherty said she was relieved. “People don't want to live
next to that. They want the green energy but they don't want to live next to
it,” she said. Daugherty said she doesn’t oppose wind power generally, but
there are just too many people in her area for a wind farm. Standing on her
front porch affords a view of agricultural fields for miles.
“And [the view] was what attracted me to this spot,” Daugherty
said. “You saw my living room there, I've got windows that look to the west. My
vision wasn't looking at wind turbines.”
The new state law won’t affect local zoning regulations like
the ones that stopped the Hallam project. Wind proponents say environmental and
local zoning regulations remain a key part of any energy project.
While some in the energy industry say the current market is
flush with renewable power sources, wind proponents and industry experts say
there’s still room for growth in Nebraska’s wind industry. And they add that
carbon pollution-regulating efforts like the Clean Power Plan may only increase
that potential in the future.
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