The project would be capable of generating up to 25 megawatts of electricity, FPL officials say. Thursday's meeting was the first opportunity for the Plan Commission to review FPL's request for a conditional use permit. Town Chairman Robert Bingen has scheduled another meeting for the commission to continue its work. Bingen challenged FPL representatives at Thursday's meeting to prove that its wind farm would not create harmful stray voltage. But in fact, if this project means that some dairy farms won't be around in a few years, that's a problem.
Voltage is the pressure that pushes electrical current through a wire.
Power distribution lines along country roads, transformers and a farm's electrical systems all are grounded into the earth for safety reasons and to comply with state code. Current flows into the earth at each ground, and a fraction of a volt can be detected there. The energy disperses in all directions through the soil. If a barn or milking parlor is close by, some of that current can flow up through the concrete floor. Stray voltage is the small amount that can be measured between the floor and a grounded device, such as metal water pipes or an electrically heated water basin.