LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Amazon lobbying Statehouse for changes to clear Ohio wind farm 

Credit:  Carrie Ghose, Staff reporter | Columbus Business First | www.bizjournals.com ~~

Amazon.com Inc. is invoking the 2,000 jobs it’s bringing to the state in testimony before an Ohio House committee considering an exemption to siting rules that effectively ended interest in building large wind farms.

“Unfortunately Ohio’s wind turbine setback standards enacted a little more than two years ago have significantly diminished the attractiveness to further investments in wind generation in Ohio,” said prepared testimony from John Stephenson, the top lobbyist for the Seattle e-commerce giant. “In fact, the current setbacks have acted as a moratorium of sorts on new wind development.”

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) – which wants 40 percent of electricity to its global facilities to come from renewable energy by the end of the year – announced in November that it would be the customer for a 100-turbine wind farm planned by EDP Renewables in Paulding County to power Amazon Web Services data centers planned for Hilliard, New Albany and Dublin.

The power-hungry data centers in Central Ohio also can draw from an Amazon wind farm in Indiana.

But standards Gov. John Kasich signed into law in 2014 shrank to almost nil the area where new turbines could go– they have to be 1,125 feet away from property lines, plus the length of a blade, instead of the old standard of 1,125 feet from a dwelling. That has made new wind farms economically unfeasible, the industry says.

Stephenson was to testify at a hearing for a bill that would allow counties to return to the standard of 1,125 feet from a dwelling, plus 1.1 times the turbine’s height from the property line – or 540 feet for typical EDP turbines. The bill is sponsored by Republicans from northwest Ohio.

“Amazon believes the substitute version of H.B. 190 strikes a balance that will allow wind development in areas of Ohio where it makes the most economic and operational sense and will help bring into Ohio more high-tech operations that increasingly depend on renewable energy,” Stephenson said in prepared remarks.

The setbacks are on top of a two-year freeze on standards that would have required utilities to source more of their power from renewable sources, a related but separate issue also up for debate in the legislature.

Source:  Carrie Ghose, Staff reporter | Columbus Business First | www.bizjournals.com

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon