Porter County braces for future in wind power

Officials here are feeling the breeze in the wake of a statewide energy conference in June, according to Raymond S. Joseph in the Porter County Plan Commission office.

Porter County was one of 15 in the state cited at this week's Pinney Purdue Agriculture Field Day by Benton County extension educator Jimmie Bricker as having contacted his office to learn more about his county's wind turbine ordinance that is serving as a model for the rest of the state.

"I'm working on an ordinance using Benton County as a template, with bits and pieces from all over the country," Joseph said Thursday.

Bricker said Benton County is currently the site of two wind farm developments by BP Alternative Energy of Texas and California-based Orion Energy Systems that will raise about 650 of the three-bladed wind turbines above the county where less than 10,000 people live on 400 square miles.

Most of the eight energy companies he has dealt with are American subsidiaries of companies in Germany, Spain and other parts of Europe, which is where many of the makers of wind turbine parts are located, he said.

"The Benton County ordinance isn't as specific as I'd like. It's designed for large facilities. I'd like ours to address (smaller) commercial facilities, like the one near Indianapolis that's supplying 60 percent of the power for a warehouse operation," Joseph said.

He said he returned from the June 17 and 18 conference set on writing wind turbine zoning rules for Porter County after seeing a climate map of the state that put the southern townships square in the path of steady prevailing winds.

"It's coming. Porter County is prime," he said.

He said he also found phone messages from at least three energy companies seeking information on what the county could offer and might require of a wind farm development.

"One of them, Trade Wind from Kansas, is looking at 1,000 acres in Porter County, extending into LaPorte County," Joseph said.

At the Purdue Field Day, a LaCrosse-area farmer indicated Trade Wind had approached landowners there. Bricker advised him and his neighbors to form a group and get a lawyer, of which there are a growing number who specialize in wind farms, to negotiate the best deal.

"(Work on) the ordinance is still very preliminary. We need to work out whether developers would need special exceptions, how to keep the towers from being an eyesore and other issues. We're really interested in keeping Porter County green," Joseph said.

He said he hopes to present a draft to the county plan commission as soon as September or October.

County Commissioner Bob Harper said he's aware of the issue but is waiting to see what the planning office comes up with.

"I'm going to be as interested as anyone else. I'll want to know what's safe, how it affects the surrounding properties," he said.