The Belisle family has shelved plans for a proposed wind project in Swanton, citing tax and regulatory risks, a spokesman said. 

General Vermont

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - How loud wind turbines can run has been whipping up debate for years.

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“Many people believe that if Irasburg opposes industrial wind development on the Kidder Hill ridgeline, the developer could simply move the towers a few feet to the Lowell side of the town line,” Warner said. “However, the towers would have to move nearly a mile away from Irasburg before our town would lose its participation in the siting decision. The Legislature included that provision in Act 174 precisely for situations like this.”

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“The wind noise rule as… approved is not going to protect Vermonters from the harm that we have already experienced from industrial wind turbines,” said Annette Smith, head of the group Vermonters for a Clean Environment and a longtime critic of industrial wind projects. “It is a step in the right direction.”

Noise Vermont

“All I have asked for is for them to do the repairs,” Francis Candiloro said Saturday, referring to chimney, window and other damage he attributes to blasting between October 2016 and May. He said representatives for the developer, Avangrid Renewables, told him the damage was unrelated to the work.

Impact on People Vermont

The Public Utility Commission has opened an investigation into blasting that was conducted at the Deerfield Wind project.

General Vermont

MONTPELIER — The Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules accepted sound standards crafted by the Public Utilities Commission for wind turbines by a 5-2 vote. This rule-making initiative is a requirement of 2016’s Act 174 energy siting policy.

Impact on People Noise Vermont

In approving stricter sound limits for ridgeline wind turbines Thursday afternoon, the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules has managed to upset both sides on the wind energy debate. The proposed sound standards have been in the works for more than a year, and they long ago set off a war of words between the various factions in the wind energy debate.

Noise Vermont

A group opposing wind turbines in Vermont has taken what its organizers say is an unprecedented step by filing a public records request with several legislators who are reviewing new sound limits for future wind-energy projects. Two of the legislators have already turned over all the requested documents. Six have not.

Impact on People Noise Vermont

The rule proposed by the Public Utility Commission sets a 42-decibel limit for wind turbines during the day, when measured 100 feet from the outside of neighboring homes, and a 39-decibel limit at night. The Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules chose to extend the deadline for a vote on the rule.

Impact on People Noise Vermont

The committee is reviewing a proposal drafted by the Public Utility Commission, which regulates energy projects in Vermont. PUC Commissioner Margaret Cheney and staff members defended the proposed noise standards before lawmakers at the Statehouse. They said they strike a balance between desirable wind energy and the health of Vermonters who would be subject to the low-middle frequency sounds emanating from machines nearly 500-feet tall.

Energy Policy Vermont

Representatives of five transmission projects proposed in July in response to the Massachusetts solicitation for 9.45 TWh/year of hydro and Class I renewables (wind, solar or energy storage) tried to explain why their projects should be among those selected in January. Contracts awarded under the MA 83D request for proposals are to be submitted in late April.

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The committee’s charge is rather to ask a fairly narrow set of questions about a rule, Benning said, including whether it meets the intent of the legislation that enabled it, whether the rule is arbitrary, and whether its potential economic effects are adequately described. Benning said he’s satisfied the rule meets all these criteria.

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The developer of two solar projects in Rutland Town wants to block information from an environmental group — including photographic evidence of heavy use by wildlife in a now-forested site targeted for development — claiming the group obtained the information by trespassing on the firm’s property.

Impact on Wildlife Impact on Landscape Vermont

Rather, said CEO Christine Hallquist, the explosion of such projects in that region has overwhelmed the utility’s distribution network to the point that wind turbines are already being forced on some days to curtail energy production in order not to overload the grid.

Energy Policy Vermont

The Vermont Public Utilities Commission on Thursday refused to reconsider its rejection of the petition for a certificate of public good for Kidder Hill Wind, a two wind turbine project in Irasburg and/or Lowell, saying the application is incomplete without a study of how the project will impact the electric grid.

General Vermont

State regulators sided with the McLanes, generally, and operators will now have to use meteorological data to stop the blades before ice forms. The project's original state permit said the turbines would have to be paused only after ice is detected. (The PUC Order can be found by clicking the document icon to the right.)

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Dairy Air Wind was given until August 3 to answer the commission’s questions about the location of the MET tower and exactly when it was put up. But instead, on that day, it took the tower down.

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Regional electric utility and grid operators say they are being forced to curtail power sources and that new development may not be possible due to energy grid saturation in northern Vermont.

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The town of Charlotte and the Agency of Natural Resources opposed the project in proceedings before the Public Utility Commission (formerly the Public Service Board). The regulatory body agreed the array would detract from the view from Mount Philo. The aesthetics of energy projects are one of the criteria that can trigger a review by the commission.

General Vermont