Energy company says details can’t come until wind energy ordinance is passed
Representatives of the energy company hoping to build a wind farm in eastern Henderson County held an informal information session Tuesday evening in which they attempted to explain the ins and outs of wind technology, wind turbine construction and the process of bringing the technology to a community.
All good intentions, but according to residents who attended—many vehemently opposed to any wind farms here—Cordelio Power reps couldn’t give specific answers to the questions they want answered about the proposal for Henderson County.
About a dozen or so Cordelio reps were on hand to answer questions at different stations set up throughout the Scott Foyer at Preston Arts Center on the campus of Henderson Community College.
Several attendees said they believed the evening would consist of a presentation followed by a question-and-answer session in which all would be able to hear similar questions from concerned neighbors and then hear an official response from the company. With this, they said, attendees would gain the same information. As it was, some reps at stations did not have answers to resident questions or were very vague in their responses, they said.
Two vocal wind energy opponents, Shannon Hill and Lisa Meyer, said the presentation didn’t give them any more information than they already had.
“It was a waste of time,” Meyer said.
However, Cordelio reps said the energy company can’t answer many of the specifics about the local proposal because the county doesn’t yet have a zoning ordinance pertaining to wind energy systems in place. Without the guidelines of local zoning, Cordelio can’t define exactly what the project will look like, Cordelio Vice President for Development Tim Vought told the Hendersonian on Tuesday evening.
Most want to know the locations of planned turbines, another question that’s not yet known. Currently, Vought said that Cordelio has made land lease agreements that encompass 18,000 acres in the county. The vast majority of that—about 13,000 acres—involves Penn Virginia reclaimed mine land. Another 5,000 acres are a part of agreements with individual landowners, he said.
In spring, a Federal Aviation Administration study said that the company listed 93 possible sites for windmills in eastern Henderson. Cordelio officials said then, and Tuesday evening as well, that those 93 sites represented a beginning point and after studies are completed and sites are eliminated because of discrepancies with study results, the numbers will decrease.
Currently, Cordelio wants to build between 40 and 50 wind turbines, Vought said.
But just because there’s an agreement with landowners doesn’t mean that windmills are coming to the county. A restrictive ordinance could cause Cordelio to have second thoughts about building or even pull up stakes. Vought, though, said he’s optimistic that people will do their research and that local government will regulate wind energy systems in line with other ordinances in place throughout the country.
Another concern of residents is that there’s not enough wind in the county to create any energy with the windmills. Nick Karambelas, Cordelio’s chief development officer, said the company knows the technology works.
“We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t think so,” Karambelas said.
Perhaps the most pressing concern for residents is the projected height of the windmills—at about 700 feet. Vought said he knows it’s a concern but said that much of the landscape has hills and trees which will hide most from views throughout the county. When exact locations are available later, the company will do modeling which will allow for better understanding of the views.
A more precise understanding of plans, though, is on hold while the process of writing and then approving an ordinance gets underway. The Henderson City-County Planning Commission recently approved a recommendation for a two-year moratorium on any permits or applications regarding wind energy systems. Most likely, that recommendation will be considered by the Henderson County Fiscal Court at an October meeting.
After that, the planning commission will hold public hearings that will be used to write the specifics of a text amendment regarding wind energy systems to the county’s zoning ordinance. No date has yet been set for those public hearings.
Vought said Tuesday he hopes a wind energy system zoning ordinance can be in place by the end of 2027.
Without specific answers to local plans, Henderson County resident Terry Mays said she was left with vague answers. She said she was told that some answers weren’t available because tests have not yet been conducted, and “This is very very early in the project.”
Deirdre McConathy, a county resident who has opposed other recent renewable projects, including a battery energy storage system proposed to abut her property, held a similar view that a presentation and question-and-answer session were needed. It would have allowed the company to provide more transparency and education, which she said she wants to see more of in the process.
Among the stock answers, she said she did get some that were helpful. She said she just needs more information, especially if Cordelio wants to change her mind. They can’t just say “take my word for it.”
“They’re going to have to make me believe,” she said.
Not all who attended were opposed to the windmills. Wayne Bugg, who lives on Ky. 416, said he’s signed an agreement with Cordelio. He said he couldn’t divulge the financials of payments from the company but did say they are “not life changing.”
Bugg said he’s a believer in renewable energy and wanted to be a “YIMBY,” as opposed to a “NIMBY”—“Not In My BackYard.”
“Yes, in my backyard,” he said.
