April 27, 2012VIA First Class Mail and Email (secretary@dps.ny.gov)Hon. Jaclyn A. Brilling Secretary,New York State Public Service CommissionThree Empire State Plaza Albany,New York 12223-1350
Comments to the New York Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment
Case 12-F-0036
–
In the Matter of the Rules and Regulations of the Board on ElectricGeneration Siting and the Environment, contained in 16 NYCRR, Chapter X, Certification ofMajor Electric Generating Facilities
INTRODUCTION
On April 11, 2012, the New York Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment(
“
Siting Board
”
) officially issued for public comment the proposed regulations to implementprovisions of Article 10 of the Public Service Law. Notice of the final proposed regulationsappeared in the April 11
th
edition of the NYS Register, beginning a 45-day public commentperiod. EDP Renew
ables North American LLC (“EDPR
NA
”)
, per the Siting Comm
ittee’s request
that comments requesting substantive changes be submitted early, respectfully submits thefollowing comments on the regulations and appreciates the Siting Boards
’s consideration of
EDPRNA
’s position
.EDPRNA and its subsidiaries develop, construct, own and operate wind farms throughout NorthAmerica. Based in Houston, Texas with 29 wind farms and over 10 development offices acrossthe United States, EDPRNA has developed and operates more than 3,400 megawatts
(“
MW
”)
ofwind farms. EDPRNA, ranked third in the United States in terms of net installed capacity, hasmore than 2,000 turbines in operation and has generated over 40 million hours of wind turbineoperational history resulting in an offset of over 16 million tons of CO
2
. With over 250employees, EDPRNA
’s highly qualified team has a proven capacity to execute projects and
achieve goals in an environmentally responsible manner. In New York, EDPRNA has had aregional development office in Albany, and has actively developed wind projects since 2001. Wecurrently co-own and operate the 332 MW Maple Ridge wind farm in Lewis County, own andoperate the 10 MW Madison Wind Farm in Madison County, and are currently constructing the215 MW Marble River Wind Farm in Clinton County. Additionally, we have hundreds of mega-watts in the interconnection queue and look forward to constructing more renewable energyprojects in New York in the years to come.EDPRNA is owned by EDP Renováv
eis, S.A. (“EDP Renewables” or “EDPR”), a global leader in
the renewable energy sector that develops, constructs, owns and operates renewablegeneration facilities throughout the world. EDPR is committed to renewable energy generationas it becomes increasingly reliable and competitive due to technological advancements thatlead to greater efficiencies. As part of its commitment to the environment and biodiversity,
EDPR Comments on New
York’s Article X
Page 2 of 7
EDPR adopted a company-wide Environmental and Biodiversity policy emphasizing the valuesof environmental protection and continuous environmental improvement in all phases of itsactivity as a cornerstone of its business and corporate culture. EDPR, a subsidiary of Energiasde Portugal (
“
EDP
”), played a critical role in EDP’s top ranki
ng on the Dow Jones Sustainability
Index (“DJSI”) Utilities Supersector in Sustainability Performance in 201
1.EDPR and itssubsidiaries currently own and operate assets in the United States, Spain, Belgium, Brazil,Canada, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and the United Kingdom.EDPRNA believes that harnessing the wind to generate electricity is fundamental to producingenergy in a manner that respects the integrity of our planet. EDPRNA understands that, as arenewable energy company, it must be a responsible steward of the environment andimplement policies that are consistent with its sustainability goals. EDPRNA has committed toidentify and assess environmental impacts at all stages of a project cycle, to take reasonablemeasures to enhance positive impacts, reduce negative impacts and, to the extent practicable,mitigate significant impacts that cannot practicably be avoided or minimized. EDPRNA iscommitted to understanding the human, health and environmental impacts of wind projects, andcontinues to be an active participant and financial supporter in numerous research cooperativeslike the American Wind and Wildlife Institute
(“AWWI”)
and the Bats and Wind EnergyCooperative
(“BWEC”)
. We also firmly support the development of renewable energy in NewYork, and are active Board participants and financial contributors to the Alliance for CleanEnergy
–
New York (“ACE
-
NY”).
It is from this perspective that EDPRNA offers its comments.
Definitions
Pg 5, Section (x): Modification. EDPRNA would encourage the inclusion of shiftingelectrical collection and distribution lines, overhead transmission lines and access roadswithin 500 feet of the original location provided that such change does not significantlyincrease impacts on sensitive resources consistent with the ability to adjust turbinelocations within 500 feet as provided in the draft Regulations. The development of windenergy is a dynamic and fluid process by which the location of infrastructure evolvesthrough the siting process due to a number of considerations including landownerconcerns, setback requirements, transmission owner review, field changes, land control,and many other points of information that are gathered throughout the public review of aproject. Flexibility to maneuver infrastructure similar to turbine locations would allowwind developers to optimize cost efficiencies and resource allocations (while allowing forlandowner preferences) during the siting and construction phases while ensuring thatsignificant impacts to sensitive resources did not take place as a result of the alterations.Moreover, EDPRNA would propose that the Regulations specifically allow for the mostimpactful characteristics of a turbine be submitted with an Application given the long leadtimes and technology advancements occurring within the industry. Requiring a windcompany to identify a single turbine at the outset of the Article X process severelyinhibits the ability of a wind company to pursue the use of more efficient and cost-effective turbines as the project gets closer to construction. The commercial reality isthat wind developers need at least a one (1) year lead time in order to place turbine
EDPR Comments on New
York’s Article X
Page 3 of 7
orders to accommodate the manufacturing and delivery schedule. Additionally, turbinetechnology is consistently changing; as such, a model that may be available at the timeof application submission may not be the best turbine model for the project from acommercial standpoint at the time of application approval and granting of the permit.Pg 7, Section (ar): Study Area. The proposed definition requires a 5 mile study radiusaround all generating facility components, interconnections and related facilities andalternative location sites. For wind facilities in rural areas, this is overly cumbersome.From a logistical standpoint, it would be extremely onerous to require field studies to beconducted on a 5 mile radius surrounding a project due to land access and the right ofentry required in order to adequately perform the studies. Certainly, there are instancesin which a 5 mile study area would be appropriate such as the Area of Potential Effect ashas been used in previous architectural studies for the State Historic Preservation Office,however, extending all studies to this radius would be extremely onerous to complete.For instance, we may not have land control or access for an area that large, particularlyoutside of the project boundary. Accessing land outside of the project boundary will costour company considerably more money and time as we contact additional landowners,have to execute right of entry agreements and negotiate individually with landowners.
It would be recommended that the definition be changed to limit the study area to theland comprising a buffer area surrounding all planned generating facility components,interconnections and related facilities and alternative location sites as determined duringscoping with Siting Board. Any additional areas outside of the study area that wouldneed to be examined in specific studies required by the Application or allow for a radiusto be negotiated during the preliminary scoping period.
Public Involvement
Section (d) requires the submission of a Public Involvement Program
(“PIP”)
plan inwriting to the DPS for its review as to its adequacy at least 150 days prior to thesubmittal of any preliminary scoping statement, except for good cause. Given that thePIP will rely heavily on the public involvement requirement of the existing SEQRAprocess and proscriptions detailed in the Regulations, a time period of 30 days prior tosubmission seem more appropriate and adequate for substantive review of such adocument. In the event the Siting Board requires additional time to review, a provisioncould be added to the Regulation affording it an extension of an additional 30 days. Anextended period of review of a minimum of 150 days would hinder the overall timeline ofthe Article X review process and subject the applicant to potential delays in submitting acomplete Application to the Siting Board.
Exhibit 6
–
Wind Power Facilities, Exhibit 8
–
Electric System Production Modeling, Exhibit 14
–
Cost of Facilities
At a high level, these sections give us significant problems. The proposed regulationrequires EDPRNA to provide detailed information including confidential work product andtrade secrets as well as confidential information which we are prohibited by contract fromdisclosing to third parties and which could allow a competitor could, among other things,reverse engineer a detailed financial model and thus gain a commercial advantage.Additionally, the cumulative information could be used to influence the review ofcompetitive bid processes such as the New York State Energy Research and
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