NextEra encounters delays in latest wind farm project

NextEra Energy Resources, the company that has wind farm operations in Oklahoma and encountered problems with plans for two more has to wait for a decision from South Dakota regulators regarding a wind farm project there.

The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission deferred making a decision on whether to temporarily waive an energy company’s requirement to install low-noise trailing edge attachments on turbine blades in wind farm project located in Grant County and Codington County according to the Watertown Public Opinion.

Representatives from NextEra Energy Resources who are involved with the Crowned Ridge Wind project requested the waiver so the attachments could be installed in summer of 2020. The project’s completion date is scheduled for Jan. 1, 2020. NextEra faces a penalty of $75,000 per day if it does not meet the required completion date.

It was in 2019 when NextEra Energy ended efforts to construct two wind farms in western Oklahoma.  The decision came after the Oklahoma legislature passed a law and Gov. Kevin Stitt signed it protecting low-level military training air routes from wind-farm encroachment.

One was the $270 million Minco V wind farm in Caddo County. It was to have been a 220-megawatt, 90-turbine wind project. The other was the $300 million Crowder farm, a 250-megawatt, 100-turbine project in Washita County.

The new law, signed into effect May 7, 2019 required more documentation from the wind farm developers that their projects would not interfere with military training flights.

After the Oklahoma Strategic Military Planning Commission informed NextEra it did not have proper clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense, the company halted the projects.

Source: Watertown Public Opinion