Minnesota Administrative Rules

7854.0300 PERMIT REQUIREMENT.

Subpart 1.

LWECS.

No person may construct an LWECS without a site permit from the commission. No person may commence construction of an LWECS until the commission has issued a site permit for the LWECS.

Subp. 2.

SWECS.

A site permit from the commission is not required to construct an SWECS. Nothing in this chapter precludes a local governmental unit from establishing requirements for the siting and construction of an SWECS.

Subp. 3.

Expansion of existing system.

No person may expand an existing LWECS by any amount or expand an SWECS to exceed 5,000 kilowatts without a site permit from the commission. A new project is considered an expansion of an existing WECS if the new WECS is within five miles of any turbine in the existing WECS, both projects are under common ownership, and a permit application for the new WECS is submitted to the PUC less than three years after the existing WECS commenced operation. Two WECS are under common ownership if the proposer of the new project, or a principal of the proposer, has an ownership or other financial interest in the existing WECS, although two projects are not under common ownership solely because the same person provided equity financing for both projects. The requirements of this subpart do not apply to any proposed SWECS for which the necessary local approvals were obtained prior to October 1, 2002, and for which construction started prior to December 31, 2002.

Statutory Authority:

MS s 116C.695; 216F.05

History:

26 SR 1394; L 2005 c 97 art 3 s 19

Published Electronically:

September 18, 2009