On March 6 2023, pursuant to the Piatt County WECS Ordinance, Goose Creek Wind submitted several updated studies to Piatt County officials. These updates are responsive to feedback from board members, community members, and from witnesses during the ZBA proceeding. For example, the updated decommissioning plan includes specifications recommended by the county's independent consultant, Patrick Engineering, during the ZBA proceeding. Also, and importantly, these updates reflect the final 50 turbine locations that Goose Creek Wind intends to utilize. Each update is summarized here, and the full documents are linked below for public reference.
1. The Updated Shadow Flicker Report Shows that No Primary Structure Will Exceed Shadow Flicker Limits.
The consulting firm Environmental Design & Research updated its shadow flicker report for the 50 turbine locations that we intend to utilize. (EDR previously conducted a similar report for 61 potential turbine locations.) Of the 1,317 structures studied in the 34,000-acre project area, ONLY 99 homes have any shadow flicker impact whatsoever (7.5%)
- Of those 99 homes:
- 53 will receive between 1 and 10 hours of shadow flicker per year (down from 73 such structures in the original report).
- 33 primary structures will receive between 10 and 20 hours of shadow flicker per year (down from 46 such structures in the original report).
- 13 primary structures will receive between 20 and 30 hours of shadow flicker per year (down from 15 such structures in the original report).
- No primary structures will exceed the legal limit of 30 hours of shadow flicker per year.
Again, these positive changes are based on the 50 turbine locations we have selected, rather than the 61 potential sites that were originally studied.
2. The Updated Sound Modeling Shows a Significant Decrease in Sound Impacts.
The consulting firm RSG conducted the enclosed updated sound modeling analysis. RSG previously conducted a similar analysis of 71 possible turbine locations that we included in Appendix F of our application. RSG updated its modeling based on the 50 turbine locations that we intend to utilize.
3. The Updated Decommissioning Plan Increases Cost Requirements to Protect Farmers and Conforms with Recommendations from the ZBA Hearing.
We asked the consulting firm Westwood to update its decommissioning plan in response to concerns that the decommissioning cost estimates were not conservative enough and in response to various recommendations made by Patrick Engineering. Cumulatively, these changes increase the decommissioning cost estimate by nearly $4.5 million. While Goose Creek Wind thinks these estimates are very high, we will nevertheless proceed with the amount under the revised decommissioning plan to ensure that Piatt County’s concerns are met, and that taxpayers are more than sufficiently protected from any risk.
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