Signed agreements with counties needed to green light wind farm

The High Banks Wind Project is moving closer to reality as NextEra Energy Resources coordinators are working with the Washington and Republic County commissioners to complete various agreements.

Representatives from NextEra Energy Resources, including project manager Billy Wilkins, communications leader Sara Cassidy, and Kansas developer Natalie Schott, visited with the Washington County News on Tuesday morning. They met with the Republic County Commission on Monday and the Washington County Commission called in to that meeting to listen to the proceedings (see related story).

The agreements being sought are part of a suite of agreements needed to finalize the project proposal, including a development plan, road use agreements, a decommissioning agreement and a contribution agreement.

Wilkins said they hope to have those agreements completed by the end of May, but he said the counties will dictate that timeline.

In the past, finding a customer for the energy produced by the wind farm was cited as the potential limiting factor on whether or not the wind farm would become reality. But Wilkins said there has been a lot of customer interest and he is optimistic they will have a customer within the next six months or so.

Having completed agreements with the counties would actually make the process of finding a customer more marketable, because there is an incentive for a customer knowing the agreements are in place and they can build proposals off that. Typical customer interest usually comes from utility companies, and more recently, from the commercial and industrial market looking to add green power to their portfolio.

Ultimately, having a customer would make the High Banks Wind Project official, but Wilkins said he hopes to be able to announce that type of guarantee sooner than that.

Wilkins said there has been a lot of landowner interest for this project and they have signed up almost 100% of their turbine locations. He said they’re still working on acquisition of leases for the transmission line that would bring the generated power to the grid.

A construction presence by the end of the year

If agreements are approved and a customer is confirmed by spring, the first presence of construction activity would likely be seen in December in the form of an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) firm. This entity would start the logistical process of mobilizing in the area and work on site development. An influx of contractors would start arriving to create what is called a “laydown yard” which is a worksite where materials, equipment and vehicles are stored until they are needed.

Using the December 2022 starting point, road improvements would occur in late December and early January. Work on a critical infrastructure assessment is underway right now, where they would assess and identify locations for improvements prior to any heavy haul equipment coming into the county.

Wilkins said construction would then begin in early 2023. Equipment would be delivered, additional local personnel would be hired, and project managers would start identifying their needs and matching that with the availability of local resources and vendors.

With the Irish Creek Wind Project, near Frankfort, local vendors included a variety of construction, hardware, trucking, technology and mechanical businesses and services, along with various food service businesses.

Cassidy said they like to work with local businesses and vendors.

“It is great to have that homegrown sense of pride to be part of the project,” said Cassidy.

One of the first big visuals of the presence of the project would be large spools of cable, which would be laid underground in January and February.

Then the next big activity, in March, would be the construction of two substations in Republic County.

By March/April, roads would be used by the heavy haul equipment.

Collection cable construction would begin in April.

Delivery of the actual wind turbines would be in May. Wilkins said the EPC typically plans for a phased approach to construction over time, moving over the land as everything is built. He said the turbines will be brought online and energized at certain points, because that is how they test them. Then in about 30 days from the testing phase, the turbines would all come online, which is projected for November/December 2023.

All of this can shift, but that would be a typical timeline for the development and completion of the project.

Cassidy said NextEra is committed to avoiding unnecessary disturbances during construction, and upon completion, will recontour all areas affected by construction to at least its previous status or better.

Following is a list of High Banks Wind-related topics with brief reviews:

General overview of High Banks Wind Project

• The projected footprint of the wind farm is 120,000 acres spanning eastern Republic County to a portion of northwest Washington County.

• 216 wind turbines, including 185 in Republic County and 31 in Washington County.

• The wind farm would generate 604 MW of power, which would make it the largest wind farm in Kansas.

• Two types of turbines – 192 GE 2.82 MW turbines and 24 GE 2.52 MW turbines.

• Landowner revenue is projected to be $115 million over 30 years.

• Property tax revenue is projected to be $100 million over 30 years.

• The project will create 350 temporary construction jobs with a peak of employment during the late spring and summer of 2023.

• The completed wind farm would employ 12-15 full-time permanent jobs.

• NextEra Energy operates 136 wind farms and 41 solar farms in 38 states and four Canadian provinces. They have nine wind farms in Kansas. NextEra is not pursuing any other new wind projects in North Central Kansas at this time.

Transmission line

To connect the wind farm to the power grid, there would be two substations in Republic County. A transmission line would start in Republic County and travel east through Washington County and Marshall County, where it would hook up in a daisy-chain with a substation serving the Irish Creek Wind Project and then to the Soldier Creek Wind Farm in southeast Nemaha County, then east to a site by Stranger Creek where it will then flow into the grid.

The 345-kilovolt line would be 75 miles long from Republic County to the Irish Creek Wind Project substation.

Wilkins said they have a corridor where they’re trying to acquire land leases along the transmission line’s path. Payment to landowners would be a similar easement concept like with the turbine sites.

The line would be constructed at the same time as wind farm construction.

Setbacks

Since our counties are not zoned, NextEra uses what they call “NextEra standards” for setbacks between turbines and structures and other infrastructure. Their standard for an occupied residence is 1,400 feet, but with this project, they will have setbacks of 1,500 feet.

The setback from a property line for non-participating landowners is 1.1 feet x turbine height + 75 feet.

Aircraft Detection Lighting System (ADLS)

Consideration of an Aircraft Detection Lighting System (ADLS) with the wind farm is dependent on Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval. This type of system would keep lights on the turbines off if there are no aircraft in the vicinity, but if an aircraft approaches, the turbines’ red flashing lights will turn on until the aircraft is out of the area.

NextEra has already submitted for an aeronautical study with the FAA, which is a 6-10 month process, for a designation of no hazards (DNH). If that comes back favorable, they can submit application to the FAA for ADLS for each turbine.

Wilkins said they’ve already started working with a vendor for a viewshed analysis to determine the amount of radar that would be required for the ADLS system.

NextEra has stated they would install the ADLS on the turbines if they receive FAA approval. If the entire site was approved, they would move forward and finalize the equipment package and radar sites. He said there is a chance that some turbines could be approved while others might not.

Taxes and revenue

In Kansas, wind energy projects like this one receive a 10-year tax abatement. But Wilkins said the precedent has been set where contributions to local county governments have basically become mandatory.

“Once an agreement has been signed, we’re bound to it and we take it seriously,” said Wilkins.

To determine what sort of payment would be made to the counties, Wilkins said they typically take the average payment amounts over time in each state, so they can be fair across the market. They would then negotiate with each county to get to a place at which they’re both comfortable.

Payments would be made separately to Washington and Republic Counties. The county commissions then determine how those funds are spent.

After the 10-year tax abatement is complete, then the turbines would be taxed and go through the typical local budgetary allocation process.

In closing

NextEra Communications Leader Sara Cassidy said they are looking for ways to be a good neighbor and support the community.

“We want to be part of communities we serve,” said Cassidy. “We want to find opportunities to support anything important to those supporting our project. We’re here for the long haul.”