Wind energy vs. wind energy - Solar, Wind and Land: Conflicts in Renewable Energy Development - page 69

shown on Figure 3.8 . Under the county's ordinance, Upwind Developer
would be required to send written notice to Downwind Developer in
connection with its permit application for a turbine at this site. Downwind
Developer would then have an option to pay Upwind Developer to make
the setback permanent and thereby prevent installation of the Site U 1
turbine. County officials would seek to set the price of this option at an
amount equal to Upwind Developer's expected loss from being prohibited
from installing turbines within the wake setback area. Information from the
Upwind Developer's own wind studies and evidence about prevailing wind
energy prices would aid county officials in setting this price.
Suppose that the wind resources on Parcels U and D have the values
reflected in parentheses in Figure 3.8 and that, for simplicity, each developer
can install only one turbine on its respective parcel. Note in Figure 3.8 that
the value of Site D 1 is either $400,000 or $250,000, depending on whether
it is subjected to wake interference.
Based on these figures, a rational party in Downwind Developer's position
would be willing to pay up to $150,000 to make the waivable setback on
Parcel U permanent and thereby be protected from wake interference. So
long as the county's estimate of the loss to Upwind Developer under the
setback did not exceed $150,000, Downwind Developer would pay the
stipulated amount and the setback would become permanent, preventing
Upwind Developer from installing a turbine at Site U 1 . A “Notice of
Permanent Wake Setback” would be recorded against the upwind property,
and turbines would ultimately be installed on the more productive,

Predominant
wind direction

Parcel D

Parcel U

(3 rotor
diameters)

Waivable
setbacks

Property
line

(5 rotor
diameters)

Site D 1
($400,000 or $250,000)

Site U 2
($200,000)

Site D 2
($150,000)

Site U 1
($300,000)

Safety
setbacks

Figure 3.8 Effect of waivable setbacks under an option-based policy (scenario #1:
best wind resources situated on downwind site)