December 10, 2019
North Dakota

PSC looking at wind farm decommissioning plans

By Dave Thompson | Prairie Public | prairiepublic.org

Thirty-four North Dakota wind farms have filed “decommissioning plans” with the North Dakota Public Service Commission.

The plans are now required for all wind projects. The first plan is due by the facility’s 10th year, and must be updated every five years after that. The plans deal with clean up of the sites. Those decommissioning plans include the cost per turbine location for reclamation.

The PSC requires a licensed North Dakota engineer to come up with those plans.

“They (the plans) vary wildly in these numbers,” said Commission Randy Christmann. “We’re going to learn a lot, when we are able to have these in front of us, and compare and contrast. We might see weaknesses from a certain compnay, a certain engineering firm, and I think we can correct it as we go.”

“I look at this as round one,” said PSC Chairman Brian Kroshus. “It’s the first phase of decommissioning cost estimates.”

North Dakota was first in the nation to require these decommissioning plans.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2019/12/10/psc-looking-at-wind-farm-decommissioning-plans/