The Nimbus Wind Project will need to build a high-voltage transmission line less than four miles long to transmit the power from where it is generated near Green Forest to the interconnection with MISO, the regional transmission organization. Nimbus Wind Project Manager Dave Iadarola said they have acquired voluntary transmission line easements from landowners along the route.
“For the transmission lines there is some clearing that will be needed, and we have worked with landowners to make sure that is addressed the way they prefer,” he said. “We have a minimum requirement of how close vegetation can be to prevent arcing that can create fire hazards. With respect to the wind farm, the turbines are not fenced, and cattle can walk right up to them. Property owners can largely keep using their land as they have in the past. This provides supplemental income for people that doesn’t impact their use of the ground. Our actual footprint per turbine is less than an acre and provides income to those landowners over the lifetime of the project.”
The company said the project will interconnect into Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation’s existing Dry Creek Substation and then flow onto AECC’s existing transmission infrastructure and into MISO.
Using the EPA AVERT calculation, Scout Clean Energy estimated the project will save 453,560 tons of carbon dioxide annually, the equivalent to annual emissions from about 98,000 average gasoline-powered cars.
Iadarola said if everything falls into place, they hope to start construction at the end of this year, but it is more likely construction would start in 2024, and the project would be operational in 2025 or 2026.
Regarding noise and light pollution, Iadarola said they run a study on each turbine site and look at the noise impacts and ensure they meet the standards at each participating property owners’ lines.
“With most ordinances, you can’t exceed a certain decibel level off your property and those are the standards we adhere to,” Iadarola said. “Regarding light pollution, we are potentially looking at an Aircraft Detection Lighting System system that keeps the red lights off the majority of the time. That system would only be deployed when an aircraft is in the area.”
Carroll County has no noise ordinances or county zoning. Williams said Boone County has a wind generation ordinance that requires money to be set aside to dispose of the windmills after they are taken out of service and return the site to nature.
“That’s why this project isn’t going into Boone County,” Williams said.
However, Scout said it has an obligation in the wind leases landowners have signed to put up bonds for disposal of the wind turbines and for returning the site to its natural state in 30 years when the wind facility reaches the end of its service life.
Climate scientists state that with climate change disruption becoming more frequent and serious causing superstorms, droughts, flooding and extreme temperatures, it is important to provide sources of energy that don’t produce large amounts of heat-trapping pollution. A diversity of sources is also important.
“My view is energy diversity is an important piece of our need to continue to have the electricity we have had in the past and ensure that we are doing it responsibly,” Iadarola said.
Iadarola has been involved in renewable energy developments since 2006.
“I have done projects across the country and internationally,” Iadarola said. “I usually work in rural areas and I’ve found these projects have been beneficial to the communities. I understand the issues with agriculture and sometimes the friction between development and historical use. I’ve enjoyed working on these types of projects throughout my career and feel they are important. That is why I do it.”