2023 Tennessee Code › Title 65 - PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS (§§ 65-1-101 — 65-37-104) › Chapter 17 - WIND ENERGY FACILITIES (§§ 65-17-101 — 65-17-113) › Section 65-17-101 - Chapter definitions

As used in this chapter:
(1)
"Construct" or "construction":
(A)
Means the process of bringing a wind energy facility to completion; and
(B)
Includes the following:
(i)
Planning;
(ii)
Research, but does not include wind and environmental analysis;
(iii)
Feasibility analysis, but does not include wind and environmental analysis;
(iv)
Environmental evaluation, but does not include wind and environmental analysis;
(v)
Preliminary engineering;
(vi)
Designing;
(vii)
Relocation of utilities;
(viii)
Permitting;
(ix)
Environmental mitigation;
(x)
Contracting; and
(xi)
Financing;
(2)
"Department" means the department of environment and conservation;
(3)
"Local government" means any county, municipality, city, or other political subdivision of this state;
(4)
"Local legislation" means any ordinance, resolution, motion, amendment, regulation, or rule adopted by a local government;
(5)
"Local legislative body" means the governing body of a local government;
(6)
"Nonparticipating landowner" means a landowner not under a lease or other property agreement with the owner or operator of a wind turbine facility;
(7)
"Operate" or "operation":
(A)
Means any activity associated with the management, operation, and maintenance of a completed wind energy facility; and
(B)
Includes the installation or improvement of the wind energy facility;
(8)
"Person" means any natural person, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture, or other private business entity except for corporations transacting business in this state pursuant to chapter 25 of this title;
(9)
"Proprietary" in regard to information means commercial or financial information that is used either directly or indirectly in the business of any applicant submitting information to a local government under this chapter, and that gives the applicant an advantage or an opportunity to obtain an advantage over competitors who do not know or use the information, which information includes trade secrets;
(10)
"Redevelop" or "redevelopment" means the process of replanning, reconstructing, or redesigning a wind energy facility, including the acquisition, clearance, development, or disposal, or any combination of these activities, of a wind energy facility;
(11)
"Transmission facility" means a power cable, distribution line, or other equipment that delivers electricity from a wind turbine located in this state to the point of interconnection with a power distribution grid, long-distance power transmission grid, or other facility by and through which the electricity is distributed or transmitted to one (1) or more customers; provided, that nothing in this chapter shall apply to any distribution, transmission, or other facilities that are located beyond the point of interconnection with the power distribution grid or transmission grid;
(12)
"Wind energy facility":
(A)
Means the equipment necessary for the operation of a facility that uses wind to generate electricity or that uses wind energy to heat or cool, or provide hot water for use in, a building or structure, including parts solely related to the functioning of that equipment, that cumulatively, with any other wind energy facility, has a rated capacity of one megawatt (1 MW) or more of energy and has a total height in excess of two hundred feet (200');
(B)
Includes turbines, towers, buildings, transmission facilities, and other associated facilities; and
(C)
Does not include equipment that, when installed in connection with a dwelling, transmits or uses wind energy to produce energy in a useful form for residential purposes; and
(13)
"Wind energy facility expansion" means any activity that:
(A)
Adds or substantially modifies a wind energy facility, including increasing the height or the number of the turbines, transmission facilities, or other equipment; or
(B)
Increases the footprint of the wind energy facility.
Amended by 2018 Tenn. Acts, ch. 825, Secs.s 14, s 15eff. 4/24/2018.
Added by 2017 Tenn. Acts, ch. 368, s 2, eff. 5/11/2017.