Feb. 16—GRANITE FALLS

— Yellow Medicine County will be taking a look at its ordinances governing wind and solar development in response to increasing interest in renewable energy development in the western Minnesota county.

The County Board of Commissioners at its meeting on Feb. 13 asked Planning and Zoning Coordinator Jolene Johnson and the county Planning Commission to review the county’s ordinances after discussing the increased interest.

Johnson said the county’s Planning Commission would schedule a meeting to begin a process of reviewing the ordinances and consider possible amendments in response to the concerns.

One week earlier, the

Chippewa County and Meeker County boards of commissioners adopted one-year moratoriums

on zoning and permitting of renewable energy development to provide an opportunity to review their county ordinances.

Both Chippewa and Meeker counties are seeing increased interest in both solar and wind developments, largely in response to plans by Xcel Energy to develop a 345-kilovolt transmission line. The Xcel line would carry renewable energy from Lyon County to the Sherco plant site in Becker to replace the coal-fired generation there.

In Yellow Medicine County, there is very strong interest by developers proposing wind power projects in the western portion of the county, according to Commissioner Ron Antony, who represents the Canby area. He said a wind power developer has been meeting with landowners and purchasing easements.

The commissioner said a developer has purchased easements previously acquired from landowners for a project proposed in 2017.

Flying Cow LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of RES America, had proposed to erect 37 turbines

dispersed over 22,888 acres for a 150-megawatt wind farm. The wind farm would have featured turbines holding 3.45-megawatt and 4.2-megawatt generators with towers 568 feet tall.

The new project is expected to include larger turbines on larger towers, possibly as tall as 740 feet, Antony told his fellow commissioners.

The county’s current ordinance requires turbines have a 1,000-foot setback from residences. The state requires a 900-foot setback.

Johnson said the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is responsible for permitting large-scale wind farms. She said the state is not obligated to follow county setback ordinances, but typically attempts to do so.

Antony said he would like to see a greater setback distance. He said people he knows working in the wind industry generally recommend a minimum setback of 2,000 feet from the larger units now being erected.

Along with setback requirements, the commissioners indicated that they would like the Planning Commission to review a full range of issues posed by energy development projects, such as the impact of the construction on roads, drainage and farm fields.