Landowners

A wind turbine uses moving air to create electricity. Wind traveling across the blades creates lift — like an airplane wing — which drives a generator producing electricity. Electricity generated by utility-scale wind turbines is sent to the electric transmission system, where it displaces electricity that would otherwise have been generated by more traditional sources such as coal, oil, nuclear and natural gas.

Technological advances that allow turbines to reach stronger, steadier winds, and over 30 years of experience in siting wind turbines to maximize their power output, have helped drive down costs.

As a clean energy source, wind is one of the most compatible with wildlife. The wind industry has taken a systematic approach to identifying potential impacts on birds, bats and other wildlife, and is engaged in initiatives to reduce, if not eliminate, those impacts.

Overall wind causes less than 0.01 percent of all human-related bird deaths.

Long-term, comprehensive studies show wind power doesn’t affect property values. Rather it is a driver for economic development in the host communities and supports local municipal services that benefit all property owners.

A fire at a wind turbine is a rare event, and extensive precautions are taken.

Typically, two people can carry on a conversation at normal voice levels even while standing directly below a turbine. Thousands of people worldwide live near wind farms with no ill effects.

No, the solar panels do not make noise. Some of the facility components such as inverters and transformers do make noise but that equipment is sited with appropriate setbacks from neighboring homes so that the sound observed would be no louder than that of a quiet room.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) established a national recycling program connecting US-based recyclers with business who have solar panels to recycle. Many components of crystalline silicon panels can be reused and recycled, namely the metal, glass and wiring components, as well as the silicon cells which can be melted down to reclaim the silicon and various metals by specialty recycling companies.

Crystalline silicon panels that are manufactured using safe and non-toxic materials are proposed for this project. These modules are comprised of silicon, copper and aluminum, sandwiched between glass and a plastic encapsulant with an aluminum frame. These types of solar panels do not contain toxic materials and are the same type that are commonly installed on rooftops and schools.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has examined property values across the United States. Their studies demonstrate large-scale solar arrays often have no measurable impact on the value of adjacent properties and in some cases may even have positive effects.

Furthermore, the proximity to solar farms does not deter the sales of agricultural or residential land. Large solar projects have similar characteristics to a greenhouse or single-story residence and the integration of visual buffers, such as natural vegetation, trees, and green fences lessen the visual impact of the project from neighboring homes and roads.

EDF Renewables is sensitive to designing a project that is well received by the community and can be well integrated into the area. Features such as visual buffers typically created by planting vegetation along roadsides and adjacent to neighboring homes near the project help soften the visual impact of the facility and maintain the rural character of the area.

There are no prescribed setbacks from the energy storage or solar facilities. Our facilities are enclosed by a fence and therefore hunting would take place outside of the fenced area of our facilities and respect all local laws and applicable hunting practices.

Land that is being taxed as agriculture exempt will lose this exemption and be applied a penalty paid by EDF Renewables. Hosting a solar project will not change the zoning designation of host properties or neighboring properties.

Energy storage systems are becoming an integral part of a clean electricity system of the future. An integrated energy storage system would allow us to store electricity during the day to produce onto the grid when the sun is not shining and increase the reliability of the facility to better meet electricity needs.

Energy storage systems can be safely integrated into your community. According to a publication by experts who study and provide testing of energy storage systems, “working at or living near an energy storage system is less risky than driving a car 10 hours per week, smoking, or working in industries such as construction, mining, or agriculture”.