Anheuser-Busch earns early nod for huge wind turbine

Anheuser-Busch earns early nod for huge wind turbine
By Barry Eberling | DAILY REPUBLIC | November 12, 2009 17:06

FAIRFIELD - Anheuser-Busch's latest plan to build a 422-foot-high, energy-producing wind turbine near its Fairfield plant passed an initial hurdle Thursday.

The Solano County Airport Land Use Commission, in granting its approval, considered whether the turbine would affect Travis Air Force Base radar, something that has been a problem with the 700 turbines in the Montezuma Hills about 15 miles east of the brewery.

County Principal Planner Jim Leland said Travis Air Force Base officials are not objecting to this lone, proposed turbine. It is not in the sector that the base is concerned about, he said.

'As long as the question has been put to them, I think that satisfies my concerns,' Commissioner John Potter said.

The Fairfield Planning Commission will take up the issue Wednesday. The city previously approved allowing Anheuser-Busch to build a turbine, but the brewery has since relocated the proposed turbine site on its 75-acre property and changed the type of turbine. That means getting approvals all over again.

The turbine is to have a 262-foot-tall tower and would measure 422 feet from the base to the top of an upturned blade. Anheuser-Busch officials have said it could produce 15 percent of the energy used annually at the brewery.

Montezuma Hills turbines

Commissioners on Thursday also heard from Cliff Graham of Nextera Energy Resources about that company's plans to build 16 more turbines in the Montezuma Hills wind area. That project has been on hold for three years because of Travis Air Force Base radar concerns. Travis officials have said the spinning turbine blades can cause small, civilian planes to drop off the radar.

Travis last year installed a new radar system and the various parties have been waiting to see if this has solved the problem. There have been mixed reports.

These new turbines would be surrounded by existing turbines, Graham said. In August, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a no-hazard letter for the project, he said. Air Mobility Command and the Airport Land Use Commission have since stated they still have concerns.

'We were kind of taken back by that,' Graham said.

See the complete story at the Daily Republic online.