As used in this chapter, the following terms have the meanings given to them.
Applicant. Applicant means person or entity filing an application under this Ordinance.
Associated facilities. "Associated facilities" means facilities, equipment, machinery, and other devices necessary to the operation and maintenance of a Commercial Wind Energy Conversion System, including access roads, collector and feeder lines, maintenance buildings and substations.
Board. "Board" means the Town of X Board.
Chair. "Chair" means the individual who is chair of the Board.
Commercial Wind Energy Conversion System. "Commercial Wind Energy Conversion System (CWECS)" means a facility consisting of one or more Wind Energy Conversion Systems with a rated capacity of more than 50 kW; or that is the primary use on the sited parcel. A facility shall be considered commercial if it supplies electrical power primarily for off-site use; or if net revenue is produced by such electrical power.
Construction. "Construction" means to begin or cause to begin as part of a continuous program the placement, assembly, or installation of facilities or equipment or conduct significant site preparation work for installation of facilities or equipment. Entering into binding power purchase contracts or obtaining wind easements from property owners or gathering wind data is not construction.
Draft site permit. "Draft site permit" means a document prepared by the chair that indicates a preliminary decision to issue a site permit with particular terms and conditions.
FAA FAA means the Federal Aviation Administration.
Facility Owner. “Facility Owner” means the entity or entities having an equity interest in the Wind Energy Conversion System, including their respective successors and assigns.
Grounding Conductor. “Grounding conductor” means a conductor that connects the electrical distribution system of an electric provider to a grounding electrode or electrodes.
Local Provenance. "Local provenance" means plants which grow "in the wild" within ten miles to where they are going to be planted.
Meteorological Evaluation Tower. "Meteorological Ealuation Tower (MET)" means a facility consisting of a tower and related wind-measuring devices including data gathering and storage. METs are typically used to measure winds preliminary to construction of a wind energy conversion system.
Native Vegetation. "Native vegetation" means plants of local provenance, where there is little to no possibility that the plants were planted or introduced and originated from somewhere else.
Non-commercial Wind Energy Conversion System. "Non-commercial Wind Energy Conversion System (NWECS)" means a facility to convert wind movement into electricity, with a rated capacity of not more than 50 kW; and that is incidental and subordinate to another use on the same parcel. A facility shall be considered non-commercial only if it supplies electrical power solely for on-site use, except that when a parcel on which a non-commercial WECS is installed also receives electrical power supplied by a utility company, excess electrical power generated by the WECS and not presently needed for on-site use may be used by the utility company in exchange for a reduction in the cost of electrical power supplied by that company to the parcel for on-site use, as long as no net revenue is produced by such electrical power.
Objectionable flow of current. “Objectionable flow of current” means a steady state of load electrical current for 5 seconds or more on a grounding conductor or any other conductor that normally does not carry electric current, except for any temporary flow of electrical fault current that is caused by a phase–to–ground fault condition and that results from the performance of a grounding conductor’s protective functions regarding faults or lightning.
Occupied Building. “Occupied Building” means a residence, school, business, hospital, church, public library or other building used for public gathering that is occupied or in use when the permit application is submitted.
Operator. “Operator” means the entity responsible for the day-to-day operation and maintenance of the Wind Energy Conversion System.
Person. “Person” means an individual, partnership, joint venture, private or public corporation, association, firm, public service company, cooperative, political subdivision, municipal corporation, government agency, public utility district, or any other entity, public or private, however organized.
Planning Board. "Planning Board" means the Town of X Planning Board.
Planning Board Chair. "Planning Board Chair" means the individual who is the chair of the Planning Board.
Power Purchase Agreement. “Power purchase agreement” means a legally enforcable agreement between two or more persons where one or more of the signatories agrees to provide electrical power and one or more of the signatories agrees to purchase the power.
Shadow Flicker. "Shadow flicker" results from the position of the sun in relation to the blades of the wind turbine as they rotate. This occurs under certain combinations of geographical position and time of day. The seasonal duration of this effect can be calculated from the geometry of the machine and the latitude of the potential site.
Site Permit. “Site permit” means a document issued by the board authorizing a person or persons to construct a Commercial Wind Energy System under the terms and conditions specified in the document.
Total Height. "Total Height" means the vertical distance from ground level to the tip of a wind turbine blade when the tip is at its highest point.
Wind Energy Conversion System. "Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS)" means a facility consisting of a tower, wind turbine generator with blades, guy wires or other support structures and anchors, access roads, and associated control and conversion equipment to convert wind movement into electricity.
Wind Turbine. "Wind Turbine" means a single facility consisting of a tower, wind turbine generator with blades, guy wires or other support structures and anchors. Wind Energy Conversion Systems (WECSs) may consist of one or more Wind Turbines.