DTE wants to 'get serious' about siting wind turbines
HURON COUNTY — Representatives from DTE Energy were in the area Wednesday to give an update on the company’s progress in researching and planning a possible future wind park development.
Some recent developments entail the refining of easement agreements the company has made with grantors, said Matt Wagner, DTE Energy manager of wind site development, during Wednesday’s Huron County Planning Commission meeting. Grantors are property owners who sign easement agreements with DTE for wind development purposes.
“We made some changes based on feedback … we think (the changes) are in favor of the grantors,” he said Thursday.
Wagner noted DTE wants to make some of the changes available to everyone, including those who already have signed easement agreements with DTE.
Other work he said DTE’s been doing has to do with exploring various setback distances.
“We’re just evaluating the various setback distances … frankly because they have a large bearing on where (turbines can be placed),” Wagner said, adding he couldn’t disclose any specific setbacks (which include the distance a turbine is placed away from a residential structure) because the company’s only “evaluating what makes the most sense” at this point in time.
Regarding DTE’s wind studies, the company previously placed a total of five MET towers in Huron County to gather wind resource data. The towers are 60-meter units located in Chandler, Meade, Rubicon and Bloomfield townships.
“We’ve been putting them up as we look at various areas where we might want to consider doing wind farms,” Wagner previously told the Huron Daily Tribune.
A sixth station includes wind measuring equipment located on a radio tower in Chandler Township, and is one of just a few units nationwide able to measure wind data from an elevation of 120 meters.
“We plan to collect wind measurement data from each location for a period of 12 to 24 months,” Wagner said in June. “During that same timeframe, we’ll also be evaluating other potential impacts, such as noise, site lines and zoning issues.”
The company, Wagner said Thursday, also has continued to make progress with various wildlife studies (which are being conducted by contracted biologists from Applied Ecological Services, Inc.).
“We’re very encouraged by what we’re seeing, but we’re doing it by the numbers (because) we want to be confident when siting wind turbines that we’re doing it in a way that’s respectful to the environmental conditions,” he said.
DTE’s moving into the third migratory season of studies, which are, among other things, specifically monitoring bats and a specific type of endangered bird.
The company also is in the process of exploring turbine designs, and looking at the distribution system, Wagner said.
“We are evaluating the distribution system to see where the best spots might be for tying into the distribution system for say our first wind farm,” he said.
There still is no timeline as to when DTE might begin constructing a wind park in the area. Company officials have maintained these are preliminary steps in the process of exploring whether or not to construct a wind park here — no final decisions have been made regarding whether one will be built or not, though DTE has been enthusiastic about pursing wind energy development in the area.
But if a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) is adopted by the state, and other factors into place, going through the preliminary work of gathering easement agreements, collecting and studying wind data, and completing environmental studies will help if and when the time comes that DTE chooses to construct a wind park.
“We’re doing some things now that will help us to move promptly (in the future),” he said. “ … If we hadn’t started our (wind data) studies or our wildlife studies and the easement work until the RPS was approved, we’d have a lot of ground to cover to get to a point where we could actually get serious about siting turbines.”
Since early 2000, DTE Energy has acquired easements on nearly 40,000 acres of land in Huron County for potential wind farm development.
Officials said in June that if site conditions continue to prove favorable, and issues with Michigan’s energy law can be resolved, the company could begin building wind turbines in the Thumb as early as 2010.
By Kate Hessling
Tribune Staff Writer
5 September 2008
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