County residents can rope the wind

Natrona County residents will be able to generate their own electricity with small wind turbines, after the county commission approved new regulations on Tuesday.

"What's been adopted really opens it up," Eric Nelson said Thursday.

Domestic wind turbines will be permitted uses in all zoned areas, Nelson said.

However, an amendment to the regulations will require people living on Casper Mountain to obtain conditional use permits, he said.

The commission's action followed the Sept. 23 approval of emergency regulations for commercial wind farms like those being constructed north of Glenrock.

The obvious difference between commercial and domestic turbines is the height: up to 300 feet for a tower and turbine for commercial electrical generation and up to 45 feet for domestic use.

Typical commercial wind turbines can generate 1.5 megawatts. One megawatt can power about 300 homes.

Gene and Deb Theriault's SunPower Energy LLC sells Skystream 3.7 domestic wind turbines manufactured by the Flagstaff, Ariz.-based Southwest Wind power, Deb Theriault said Thursday. Depending on the wind and other factors, these turbines can produce between 200 and 600 kilowatts a month, she said.

The new regulations fix a problem that confronted the county commission because domestic wind turbines weren't mentioned in county codes.

The county had regulations about cell phone towers, but applying those rules to towers with anemometers or wind turbines didn't work.

Trish Chavis of the Natrona County Development Department said the new regulations require the towers and generators be set back from property lines so they will not affect neighbors if they fall over.

There must a radius around each tower equal to the tower plus five feet, and the minimum parcel size for a tower will be a half-acre or nearly 22,000 square feet, Travis said.

Applicants for small wind power generators must show documentation of locations of power and gas lines.

The machines must not cause noise higher than 40 decibels, she said.

If the generators are connected with the power grid, the application must include notification from the power company, Chavis said.

During the public hearing at the commission meeting, Gene Theriault said blades on small turbines are made of composite materials that allow communications signals to pass through without interference.

After the public hearing, Nelson said commissioner Jon Campbell proposed an amendment requiring Casper Mountain residents to obtain conditional use permits to build wind turbines because of potential adverse effects on other residents' views.

Because the public hearing had closed, wind turbine proponents couldn't comment, Deb Theriault said Thursday.

"That took us by surprise," she said.

During the process to craft and approve the regulations, no one objected to using the regular permitting process for erecting the towers on the mountain, Theriault said.

Nelson said the county probably will have meetings to further discuss the conditional use permits for towers on the mountain.

Last we knew: The Natrona County Commission approved emergency regulations about commercial wind farms on Sept. 23.

The latest: The commission approved regulations for permitting domestic wind turbines on Tuesday.

What's next: The county intends to hold meetings about an amendment to the regulations that require builders of domestic wind turbines on Casper Mountain to obtain conditional use permits, which is a more complicated process than a regular building permit.