Up to 25 wind turbines would pose a “presumed hazard” to aircraft navigation from their perch atop North Mountain, the Federal Aviation Administration has determined.
The turbines, proposed to stand up to 549 feet tall on top of a Botetourt County ridgeline, would exceed the FAA’s obstruction standards and create “an adverse physical or electromagnetic interference effect upon navigable airspace,” the agency found after a preliminary study.
However, the finding may not be a severe setback for Apex Clean Energy, a renewable energy company that wants to build the state’s first commercial wind farm north of Eagle Rock.
At Apex’s request, the FAA has agreed to conduct a more detailed study.
The FAA is charged with evaluating how any structure over 200 feet tall — including buildings, cellphone towers and wind turbines — might impact aircraft passing overhead and arriving or departing from nearby airports.
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Any structure higher than 499 feet is presumed to be a hazard, according to FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac. But with a formal aeronautical study now under way, Apex officials are hoping that additional information will lead the FAA to reconsider its presumption of risk.
Apex spokesman Kevin Chandler pointed to part of a written public notice from the FAA that states the turbines “would have no effect on any existing or proposed arrival, departure or en route instrument flight rules (IFR) operations or procedures.”
The Rocky Forge wind farm’s proposed location is about 17 nautical miles southeast of Ingalls Field in Hot Springs, the nearest public airport.
As part of its ongoing study, the FAA is taking public comments through Feb. 10. “Comments must be relevant to the effect the structure would have on aviation,” a public notice on the agency’s website states.
At up to 549 feet, the turbines would be taller than those at other wind farms. A project in West Virginia has windmills that stand 388 feet tall. A proposal for Poor Mountain in Roanoke County, later withdrawn by the developer, called for 443-foot-tall turbines.
If Apex’s proposal does not ultimately satisfy the FAA, options would include moving some of the turbine sites or reducing their proposed heights to 499 feet or less.
Since Apex announced its plans a year ago, scattered opposition to the wind farm has consisted mostly of concerns about what the turbines would look like, the sounds they would make and the impact they would have on the pristine woodland of northern Botetourt County.
Last week, the county’s planning commission recommended approval of a special exception permit that Apex is seeking for the project. The Botetourt County Board of Supervisors is expected to consider the matter Jan. 26.
In addition to getting approval from the county and the FAA, Apex also must obtain permission from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, which is expected to take a close look at the turbines’ impact on the flora and fauna of North Mountain.
Apex has said it hopes to have the wind farm running by the end of next year. The ongoing study by the FAA, which could take several months, is not expected to affect that timeline, Chandler said.
As part of a national movement toward more renewable energy, the wind farm would produce enough electricity to power about 20,000 homes.