May 11, 2022
Iowa

Supervisors receive wind turbine application

By Mike Putz | Manchester Press | May 11, 2022 | www.manchesterpress.com

The Delaware County Board of Supervisors received an application to repower the Elk Wind Farm at its May 2 meeting.

Justin Fike and Kelli Orton, with Elk Wind Energy, LLC, presented the application for the 17-turbine wind farm located between Edgewood and Greeley.

“The application is largely what we have discussed the last couple times we have been out here,” Fike said.

At a meeting with supervisors in March, Fike said the existing foundations and towers will be reused, with a tower adaptor connecting the existing towers to new nacelles. In addition, new, longer blades would be installed and the old blades recycled.

Fike explained the longer blades are necessary because General Electric, the manufacturer of the equipment, doesn’t make the same size blades for this size of turbine. As a result of the increase in rotor length, the existing setback distances will also increase.

In March Fike said contractors working on the project will use a self-propelled modular transport (SPMT) to transport cranes along public and existing access roads to lessen damage to the roads.

Supervisor Jeff Madlom asked County Engineer Anthony Bardgett if he had reviewed the studies about the use of the SPMT and if he felt comfortable with them.

“It sounds like these are common,” Bardgett responded. “I am fairly comfortable with it but will want to do pre and post inspections of the roads and bridges, so I’m cautiously OK with it.”

Supervisor Shirley Helmrichs asked Fike if an increase in blade length would generate more noise. Fike said the one or two decibel increase the new blades would generate would not be noticed by the human ear and directed supervisors to the appendix in the application dealing with the noise issue.

The supervisors are expected to take action on the application request at a future meeting.

In other action, the supervisors received on bid for the sale of the courthouse annex. A bid of $275,001 came from Matthew J. Schulte and Mitchell J Peyton. Supervisors will take action on the bid at a later date.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2022/05/11/supervisors-receive-wind-turbine-application/