St. Lucie official impressed, if not blown away, by turbines
St. Lucie County Commission Chairman Joe Smith climbed, looked at and listened to windmills in Texas on Wednesday and said afterward, "nothing I saw made me nervous."
He admits to being breathless after climbing straight up the interior of the 260-foot tower where he could watch and listen to the machinery as the turbine's hub pivoted and blades turned and twisted in the wind.
"From everything I learned, noise is not an issue," Smith said Thursday. "They did not sound like a great disturbance."
He compared the noise to the sound of an airplane flying overhead. But the sound isn't loud enough to prevent conversation.
"Standing at the base, there was a hum from the windmill," he said. "When the wind blows, you hear it more than the hum."
The wind was blowing 8 miles per hour, so he couldn't tell if they're noisier at higher wind speeds.
"There are long shadows, but the blades' shadow was nothing that made me go crazy," he said.
Some critics fear the spinning blades' shadow will create a flickering effect on the beach that might be unpleasant for beachgoers.
Smith said he was at the wind farm from 11 a.m. to about 2:30 p.m. He's the first St. Lucie official to visit FPL Energy's Horse Hollow wind farm outside Abilene, Texas.
He crossed paths at the airport with County Administrator Doug Anderson and video cameraman Shane DeWitt as they got off the plane Smith was about to board to return home.
County commissioners are trying to learn more about turbines as officials ponder Florida Power & Light's proposal for up to nine turbines on South Hutchinson Island that would be the first in Florida.
"I've made no final decision on my vote," Smith said. "I'll still take time to think about them putting windmills on public property." He also wants to see a written proposal from FPL with details of its plans.
FPL officials have talked with county officials and led a tour of South Hutchinson Island sites but haven't filed a formal application to install the wind turbines, which the company says could power about 3,000 houses.
The company has mentioned several publicly owned oceanfront areas, some of which are limited to recreation and conservation use. Local and state officials would have to decide on changing those restrictions.