For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
APPLICANT. The entity or person who submits to the City of Villa Grove an application for the siting of any WECS or substation or thereafter operates or owns a WECS.
FAA. Refers to the Federal Aviation Administration.
FALL ZONE. The area, defined as the farthest distance from the WECS tower base, in which a WECS tower will collapse in the event of a structural failure. This area is the total height of the structure plus length of blade.
FEEDER LINE. Any power line that carries electrical power from one or more wind turbines or individual transformers associated with individual wind turbines to the point of interconnection with the electric power grid.
FINANCIAL ASSURANCE. A reasonable assurance from a credit worthy party, examples of which include, a surety bond, performance bond, trust instrument, cash escrow, or irrevocable letter of credit.
HOST AGREEMENT. An agreement between the applicant and the city which addresses the economic development and growth impacts to the city
caused by hosting any WECS within the borders of the city and the one and one-half mile area surrounding the city. It may also be referenced as a "community benefit agreement".
METEOROLOGICAL TOWER. For the purposes of this chapter, towers which are erected primarily to measure wind speed and direction plus other data relevant to siting WECS. For purposes of this chapter, meteorological towers do not include towers and equipment used by airports, the Illinois Department of Transportation, or other similar applications or government agencies, to monitor weather conditions.
MICRO-WECS. An electric generating WECS device which has a rated nameplate capacity of up to five kilowatts and which is incidental and subordinate to a permitted use on the same parcel. A system is considered a micro-WECS only if it supplies electrical power solely for on-site use, except that when a parcel on which the system is installed also receives electrical power supplied by a utility company, excess electrical power generated and not presently needed for on-site use may be used by the utility company.
NON-PARTICIPATING LAND OWNER. Refers to a person who owns land or real property in the WECS Regulatory Jurisdiction who is not an applicant, owner or operator and has not entered into a contract, lease, option or agreement with the applicant, owner or operator concerning a WECS project within the WECS Regulatory Jurisdiction.
OFF-GRID SYSTEM(S). Refers to a system that supplies electrical power solely for on-site use.
OPERATOR. Refers to the entity responsible for day-to-day operation and maintenance of the WECS, including any third party subcontractors.
OWNER. Of a WECS refers to the entity or entities with an equity interest in the WECS including their respective successors and assigns. Owner does not mean the real property owner where the WECS is located unless the property owner has an equity interest in the WECS. Owner also does not mean any
person holding a security interest in the WECS solely to secure an extension of credit, or a person foreclosing on such a security interest provided that after foreclosure such person seeks to sell the WECS within one year of such event.
PARTICIPATING LAND OWNER. Refers to a person who owns land in the WECS Regulatory Jurisdiction and is either personally the applicant, owner or operator of a WECS or has entered into a contract, lease, option or other agreement with an applicant, owner or operator of a WECS.
PERSON. Refers to a real person or legal entity as recognized by Illinois law.
PRIMARY STRUCTURE. The structure that can be occupied by one or more persons for either business or personal reasons, including residences, commercial buildings, schools, churches, hospitals, retail buildings, day care facilities, hunting sheds, storage sheds, pool houses, garages and barns.
PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER. Refers to a qualified individual who is licensed as a professional engineer in the State of Illinois.
PROPERTY LINE. Refers to the boundary line of the area over which the entity applying for a WECS permit has legal control for the purposes of installation of a WECS.
PUBLIC CONSERVATION LANDS. Land owned in fee title by state or federal agencies and managed specifically for conservation purposes, including, but not limited to, state wildlife management areas, state and federal parks, state scientific and natural areas, federal wildlife refuges and waterfowl production areas. For the purposes of this chapter public conservation lands will also include lands owned in fee title by nonprofit conservation organizations. Public conservation lands do not include private lands upon which conservation easements have been sold to public resource management agencies or nonprofit conservation organizations.
RATED WIND SPEED. The lowest wind speed at which the rated output power of an electric-generating wind device is produced.
ROTOR. An element of a wind energy system that acts as a multibladed airfoil assembly, thereby extracting through rotation, kinetic energy directly from the wind.
ROTOR DIAMETER. The diameter of the circle described by the moving rotor blades.
SHADOW FLICKER. The alternating changes in light intensity caused by the moving blade of a WECS casting shadows on the ground and objects, such as a window and dwelling.
SMALL WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM (S-WECS). An electric generating wind device which has a rated nameplate capacity of greater than five kilowatts and up to 100 kilowatts operating at the rated wind speed and which is incidental and subordinate to a permitted use on the same parcel.
SOUND PRESSURE. The average weight at which sound energy is transmitted through a unit area in a specified direction. The pressure of the sound measured at a receiver.
SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL. The sound pressure mapped to a logarithmic scale in reported in decibels (db).
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER. A qualified individual who is licensed as a structural engineer in the State of Illinois.
SUBJECT PROPERTY. The real estate where a WECS is proposed to be located.
SUBSTATION. Any electrical facility designed to convert electricity produced by wind turbines for interconnection with high voltage transmission lines.
TOTAL HEIGHT. The distance measured from grade to the upper most extension of any blade or the maximum height reached by any part of a WECS.
TOWER. The support structure to which the nacelle and rotor are attached, free standing or guyed structure that supports the wind turbine generator.
TOWER HEIGHT. The distance from the rotor blade at its highest point to the top surface of the WECS foundation.
TRANSMISSION LINE. Electrical power lines that carry voltages of at least 69,000 volts (69 KV) and are primarily used to carry electrical energy over medium to long distances rather than directly interconnecting and supplying electric energy to retail customers.
UTILITY-SCALE WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM (U-SWECS). Any device that converts wind energy into electricity with a name plate capacity of 100 kilowatts or greater through the use of a wind turbine generator which includes the turbine, blade, tower base and pad transformer, if any.
WECS PROJECT. The collection of WECS and substations as specified in the siting approval application.
WECS REGULATORY JURISDICTION. The jurisdictional limits of the City of Villa Grove and the one and one-half miles surrounding its zoning jurisdiction.
WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEMS ("WECS"). Any device or combination of devices that convert wind energy into electricity through the use of a wind turbine generator which includes, but is not limited to, the turbine, blade, tower, base, pad transformer, supports, guy wires, generators and any other accessory equipment, if any, including all U-SWECS, S-WECS and micro-WECS.
WIND FARM. One or more Utility-Scale Wind Energy Conversion Systems (U-SWECS) which are intended to produce electricity for sale to a rate regulated or non-regulated utility or for use off site.
WIND SITE ASSESSMENT. Any assessment meant to determine the wind speeds at a specific area and the feasibility of use that site for construction of a wind energy system.
WIND TURBINE AND/OR WIND TURBINE GENERATOR. Any piece of electrical generating equipment that converts the kinetic energy of moving or blowing wind into electrical energy through the use of airfoils or similar devices to capture the wind.
(Ord. 2021-MC03, passed 2-8-2021)