5.15 Legislative Initiatives (LEG)
proposed for areas near and within critical airspace to accomplish the
mission, the mission could be hindered by the impacts generated by
commercial‐scale wind energy developments. Such impacts include a
communications and / or radar interference. These impacts on the military
mission can result in lost hours of training, and potentially degradation of the
training environment at DCR.
Legislative initiatives are proposed changes in relevant policies, laws,
regulations or programs which could potentially have a significant impact on
one or more substantive areas of concern to both the facility and to the
stakeholder communities. The focus of this compatibility issue is on
initiatives with general and broad implications.
The North Carolina Legislature passed a wind energy permitting law in 2013,
which relates to protection of the military assets of the state. However there
are some missed opportunities in the law relative to establishing regulations
for military compatibility and balancing the potential economic opportunity
of wind energy development for the state. Some of these opportunities
include:
Key Terms
Shadow Flicker. Shadow flicker refers to shadows cast on the ground and
structures by rotating wind turbine blades.
ISSUE
LEG‐1
Coordinating Wind Farm Development with Military
Need to enhance coordination of wind farm
development with Seymour Johnson AFB / Dare County
Range.
Compatibility Assessment
The exclusion of definitions that could provide additional clarity for
potential local governing units and developers,
Exclusion of the National Guard facilities as “major military
installations,” and
Need for thorough off‐shore development regulations.
These items can potentially lead to misinterpretation of the law and possible
additional costs for developers, which can ultimately result in missed
economic opportunity for the state, counties and local governments.
While the potential for utility‐scale wind energy developments is slight for
Wayne County where Seymour Johnson AFB is located, the potential
increases along the coastline and off‐shore, particularly Dare County – the
location of the DCR. The maps in Section 5.8, Energy Development illustrate
the potential for utility‐scale wind energy development in areas along the
North Carolina coastline and off‐shore. This is the primary concern for this
issue as the primary purpose of DCR is to enable an ideal environment for
which both Air Force and Navy aircraft and weapons training operations can
effectively occur. These operations require various communications
capabilities between aircraft and ground control, we