Wind Energy in Tompkins County, New York

Wind Energy in Tompkins County, New York A Suitability Analysis

STEPHEN ZELNO 5 May 2008 Introduction

As the threat of global climate change becomes a reality, serious questions concerning how the United States will supply its ever-growing demand for energy have arisen. Traditional methods of energy production have proven unsustainable. Coal combustion emits large amounts of carbon dioxide and other air pollutants. Nuclear energy production is expensive and there is still no solution to the problem of nuclear waste. If global climate change is to be minimized, the United States, the world’s largest energy user, must look to alternatives sources of energy production.

One of these alternatives is wind energy. Wind energy, used for centuries, is a clean and renewable source of energy. It can indefinitely produce electricity without emitting or generating any waste. It is also becoming economically competitive. New policies such as Renewable Portfolio Standards, which mandate the percentage of renewable energy produced within a state, and a federal tax subsidy, have accelerated the growth of wind energy. In 2007, wind energy grew 45%, contributing to 30% of all new electricity generation within the United States (Davidson 2007).

One area that wind energy has room to grow is upstate New York. New York’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, created in 2004, aims to increase the proportion of renewable energy production in New York to at least 25% by 2013 (NYSERDA). Wind energy will play a major role if New York is to achieve this goal. In upstate New York, Tompkins County has emerged as possible location for new wind energy production. Tompkins County, which includes the city of Ithaca, is home to approximately 100,407 people and includes approximately 492 square miles. Tompkins County has a lot of land appropriate and available for wind turbines. It is also a progressive enclave within the more conservative, rural upstate New York that may be more open to wind energy developments.

Tompkins County is also home to Cornell University, a land grant college and Ivy League University that could provide social, technical, and economic support for new wind farms. In 2006, Cornell University began to study the possibility of building eight wind turbines on its land on Mount Pleasant in Dryden, New York. However, Cornell abandoned the study after residents of Dryden, New York protested (Cornell 2006). However, hopes still exist for wind energy in Tompkins County. Community support has grown in the past two years. In the town of Caroline, a group called Energy Independent Caroline has formed with the goal of building large-scale wind turbines to produce energy for the town.

The purpose of this report is to continue and advance the efforts exploring the possibility of wind energy in Tompkins County. Several factors that affect the viability and placement of wind turbines are considered and analyzed using G.I.S. This report specifically covers site criteria. It is not meant to address over wind development concerns such as visual impacts or the choice of turbine design. A suitability analysis is carried out with the intent of identifying locations possible locations for wind turbines. Data

Data was obtained from the Cornell University Geospatial Information Repository (CUGIR). Wind speed data for Tompkins County was created by AWS Truewind LLC and is available on CUGIR. Other data was obtained from the GEDDES Laboratory at Cornell University. Demographic data at the tract and block level came from the 2000 US Census. All data is projected using the NAD 1983 State Plane New York Central FIPS (Feet) projection.

Methodology

A suitability analysis was conducted by identifying factors that influence the placement wind turbines. These factors include:

Wind Speed: Wind speed is the most important factor in placing a wind turbine because it determines the energy productivity of the turbine. Even the most ideal location cannot be considered unless it has significant wind speeds, usually cited as above 7 meters per second (15.7mph) (Global Energy Concepts 2005).

Land Use: Land use is particularly important for citing wind turbines. Turbines are usually placed in rural locations because they need a large amount of space. Depending on the exact layout, wind turbines with a 70-meter rotor diameter need to be spaced 210 meters (690 ft) apart within a row and 700 meters (2,300 feet) between rows in order to maximize energy output. To be cost-effective, at least 10 wind turbines, producing 1.5 megawatts each, should be expected and preferably more. (Global Energy Concepts 2005) In this study, agricultural, residential, and vacant land parcels were considered as suitable locations for wind turbines. Typically, the owner of the land on which the turbine is built is paid an annual rent, either a fixed annual amount or percent from the sale of energy. This can been a significant supplement to a landowner’s income, bringing in approximately $4000-$5000 per year per turbine (SeaWest Consulting). The urban area that includes and surrounds the City of Ithaca was excluded from analysis.

Population Density: Population density is also a significant factor when choosing the site of wind turbines. Wind turbines may have small, but significant effects, such as shadow- flicker and noise. Choosing a site with a small surrounding population would minimize these effects. Wind turbines can also be considered an eyesore. Choosing a location with a low population density would minimize its visual effects as well.

Environmental Areas: As the case with any large development, construction of and use of wind turbines can have effects on the surrounding environment. To minimize this, critical environmental areas, including wetlands and forested areas were identified as unsuitable locations. The Finger Lakes Trail, a popular hiking trail was also identified as a critical environmental area. Each factor was identified on a map of Tompkins County. The features were converted from feature to raster form. If appropriate, a buffer was created and included in the analysis. Some features, such as environmental areas and urban areas, were excluded from the suitability analysis. These factors were given a value of 0 or 1. Other factors, including wind speed, land use, and populations were given integers from 1 to 9 depending on their desirability. When conducting the suitability analysis, a multiplicative equation was used in the raster calculation. The assigned values for land use and population were summed and multiplied by the assigned numbers for wind speed, environmental areas, and other non suitable areas including the urban area and buffer, and a buffer around Cayuga Lake. This equation gives the most weight to wind speed and excludes non-suitable areas (which have a value of zero) from the analysis.

Analysis

Map 1: Wind Speed in Tompkins County This is a simple map that shows the wind speeds average wind speeds at 80 meters above the ground. As a rule of thumb, an average wind speed of 7 m/s is needed for effective energy production from a turbine. The map identifies several areas as suitable for wind turbines. However there are large tracts of land that are not suitable, indicating that the wind speeds in Tompkins County is not uniformly suitable and the site decision is important.

Map 2: Suitable Land Use Areas This map shows agricultural, residential, forested, and vacant tax parcels. Urban areas are also indicated. When reclassifying these areas for the suitability analysis, vacant tracts are considered the most desirable, and given a value of 9. Agricultural tracts were given a value of 7, residential tracts given a value of 5. The tracts within the urban area were given a value of 0. All other tracts, including forested tracts were given values of 1.

Map 3: Tompkins County Population This map shows the total population in each census block group. The urban areas, which would not be considered in the suitability analysis, were excluded from this map to accentuate the differences in population in the rural areas. The population classes were determined using the natural break (Jenks) method. Blocks with no population were given a value of 9, with a population between 1 and 33 a value of 7, a population between 34 and 63 a value of 5, and so on. Note: I used total population here because I had technical difficulty calculating the distance of each tract. The area was not included in the attribute table. When the calculating the area of each tract, I could not define the coordinate system of the shape file. I followed the directions in ArcGIS Help, but kept receiving an error in ArcCatalog when trying to define the coordinate system. As a result, I believe the calculations of the area were off (ArcMap noted that they may be off because the shape file did not have a defined coordinate system). Because the low population density and small variance in the considered areas, I do not believe using total population instead of normalized population density significantly affected the suitability analysis. Map 4: Critical Environmental Areas Critical environmental areas that would effect the location of wind turbines are wetlands, forests, and the Finger Lakes Trail. Forests were analyzed with land uses. Wetlands, as defined and identified by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, were located and designated as unsuitable. A 1000 ft. buffer around the wetland was also designated as unsuitable. The size of this and other buffers was determined based on the recommendations of Andrew Sparks and David Kidner at the University of Glamorgan, UK. The Finger Lakes Trail and a 2000 ft buffer was also designated as unsuitable. These buffers are shown in Maps 5 and 6.

Conclusions and Discussion

Map 7: Suitable Locations for Wind Turbines in Tompkins County, shows the final results from the raster calculation. Notice how sites inside the urban areas, wetland buffer, and Finger Lakes Trail buffer, are all denoted unsuitable. This leaves the other areas to be determined by land use, population, and wind speed. The classifications were determined using the natural breaks (Jenks) method. Municipalities were labeled for easy identification. By this map, the most suitable area for a large wind farm is Enfield, which has large tracts of Highly Suitable areas and significant patches of the “Best Suitability” areas. Newfield also has large amounts of land that may be suitable for wind turbines. Caroline, Danby, and Dryden have small pockets that may be suitable for wind energy production. Groton has large tracts of “High Suitability” land but little “Best Suitability” land. The largest obstacle in pursuing wind energy development in Tompkins County will be getting past the “Not in my backyard” sentiments felt in the outlying areas of Tompkins County that are the most suitable for wind energy. Lansing, Cayuga Heights, the City and Town of Ithaca, have the largest populations and probably have the most support of wind energy. However, they all have little to no suitable locations for wind turbines. The areas most in support of wind energy are not the areas where the wind turbines will be placed. As noted before, this analysis is not complete. Further factors that are difficult or impossible to address geographically should be considered. Social effects such as community support for wind energy, and environmental considerations such as effects on birds and bats should also be considered. Further GIS analysis can be conducted to create 3D models of a proposed site to determine the visual impacts of wind turbines. With everything considered, Tompkins County still seams to be a viable location for wind energy development. This report hopes keep the opportunity of wind energy in Tompkins County from being overlooked. References

Cornell University. 2006. Cornell Sustainable Campus Energy Use. . 5 May 2008.

Davidson, Paul. “Wind Energy is Blowing Up a Storm” USA Today. 2007. 5 May 2008 .

Global Energy Concepts and AWS Truewind. “Wind Power Project Site: Identification and Land Requirements.” NYSERDA Wind Energy Took Kit. October 2005. 5 May 2008. .

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). “About New York’s Renewable Portfolio Standard.” 5 May 2008. .

Sparkes, Andrew and David Kidner. “A GIS for the Environmental Impact Assessment of Wind Farms.” Department of Computer Studies, University of Glamorgan. 5 May 2008. .

SeaWest Consulting LLC. “Manzanita Wind Energy Feasibility Study.” September 2004. US Department of Energy. 5 May 2008. Map Appendix

Map 1: Wind Speed in Tompkins County Map 2: Suitable Land Use Areas Map 3: Tompkins County Population Map 4: Critical Environmental Areas Map 5: Finger Lake Trail Buffer Map 6: Wetlands Buffer Map 7: Suitable Locations for Wind Turbines in Tompkins County, NY