The Nelson County Planning Commission has begun the process of drafting an ordinance that would allow small wind turbines to be constructed and used in the county.
Officials in other counties also have been discussing the possibility of allowing small wind turbines.
Wind turbines, which are large, rotating machines that convert kinetic energy from wind into mechanical energy, are currently not allowed in Nelson because there is no ordinance to regulate them.
Commissioners discussed small wind turbines for more than an hour and a half on May 5 during a work session, where they received input from Jeremy Hays of Skyline Turbines, an Afton-based business that is a dealer of the alternative wind turbine systems.
Hays answered questions about safety regulations on the turbines, allowable and preferred tower heights, noise and the cost of the systems.
Hays said his business gets 50 to 60 inquiries a day from potential customers, including 72 people in Nelson interested in installing wind turbines.
He said he has already performed wind studies at homes for Nelson residents, who now are simply waiting for a governing ordinance before they purchase them.
Steve Crandall, another distributor and installer of small wind turbines, said this is something county residents can use to help keep down energy costs.
“To me, if we can buy one less barrel of oil, it makes sense,” he said. “Yes, these systems cost a lot of money, but it makes sense.”
The Nelson County Board of Supervisors liaison to the planning commission, Thomas Bruguiere, said he would like to see the ordinance cause as little burden to property owners as possible.
Planning Commissioner Philippa Proulx said she wanted to keep separate the commission’s consideration of an ordinance governing small residential systems from that of the larger wind farms.
She also said the ordinance was important to regulate the installation of the systems and that the ordinance should deal with the proximity of the systems to buildings and property lines.
The commission meets again at 7:30 p.m. May 27 at the Nelson County Courthouse with the discussion of wind turbines on the agenda.
In Amherst County, officials drafted a turbine ordinance after receiving inquiries from a handful of interested landowners over the past year, referred to in proposed zoning language as “wind energy systems.”
The ordinance is in a preliminary stage and has not yet been made final by the planning commission or Board of Supervisors, said Jeremy Bryant, director of planning and zoning. The county hasn’t received any official requests for turbines, he said, but the inquiries came simultaneously with planners learning of their use in other areas.
“We’ve heard a lot about this,” Bryant said.
The proposed Amherst County ordinance would allow turbines as a special exception use in areas zoned as agricultural residential, commercial and industrial. The height could not exceed 100 feet and a 200-foot setback requirement from the nearest property line would be required.
Other regulations would include lighting, signs, noise, connections to electric utilities, distance of blades from the ground and insurance, along with other details.
Amherst County planners have researched what nearby counties are doing, including Rockingham County, and several weeks ago attended a wind energy workshop in Staunton, he said.
Staff members from Bedford County’s department of community development also attended that workshop, said Mary Zirkle, chief of planning.
As part of a county zoning update, the department is researching regulations for individual energy generation, including wind and solar, Zirkle said.
“We want to make individual energy systems as easy as possible, balancing potential conflicts with surrounding properties,” Zirkle said. “The main issue with wind turbines is, of course, the height.”
Bedford, like Amherst, has received a number of inquiries from people interested in private wind turbines but hasn’t yet adopted guidelines to regulate them.
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