September 23, 2007
Nebraska
Nebraska
A company from Bad Axe, Mich., will be testing the potential for wind energy in Madison County.
The Madison County Joint Planning Commission has recommended approval of a permit for Third Planet Wind Power, which wants to erect a temporary 197-foot tower nine miles southwest of Battle Creek.
The tower would be up at least a year – and maybe longer – as the company gauges the potential for a future wind energy project, said John Johnson, county zoning administrator.
It already has erected a similar meteorological tower along Highway 32 at Petersburg.
“Wind maps of Nebraska and also transmission lines for potential wind energy generation show the potential on the west side of Madison County is pretty good,’ Johnson said.
At its meeting Thursday night, the commission also considered setback regulations for future wind generation towers in the county and heard from a representative of the Nebraska Public Power District.
The representative “recommended that our setbacks, for the most part to everything basically except wildlife management areas, be the radius of the tower, which right now, a blade is about 160 feet plus or minus,’ Johnson said.
Madison County’s proposal is modeled on Boone County’s, which adopted the diameter rather than the radius as the standard for setbacks.
The commission postponed a decision so members can learn why Boone County went with the diameter rather than the radius as recommended by NPPD. The setback would be from the edge of road right-of-way or a neighboring property.
In other action, the commission added the 200-acre area of Robert C. Nelsen’s feedlot to the City of Newman Grove’s extra-territorial zoning jurisdiction and eliminated it from the county’s jurisdiction.
The feedlot, which added a new lagoon and did other work, was a non-conforming use under the county’s plan but does meet Newman Grove’s regulations.
“This way, we’re keeping him open,’ Johnson said.
Elected commission officers were Richard Grant of Meadow Grove as chairman, Roger Acklie of Madison as vice chairman and Larry Bartee of Tilden as secretary.
By Greg Wees
News Staff Writer
22 September 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/09/23/wind-test-tower-to-be-erected-near-battle-creek/