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No Decision On Groton Wind Farm Certificate Until December

Sam Evans-Brown
/
NHPR

It will be almost another year before state regulators decide whether to revoke the certificate of a 24 turbine wind farm in Groton.

The Groton wind farm has been under scrutiny after it changed its design, shifting the locations of a few of the turbines, roads, and its operations headquarters. Iberdrola, which owns the wind farm, says it submittedthese changes to the Department of Environmental Services, before it was built, butlocal watchdogs and arepresentative of the attorney general’s officebelieve DES didn’t have the authority to approve the modifications.

In a state-run meeting Thursday, Iberdrola and its critics agreed to wait until the snow melts to conduct a survey of the wind farm, and initiate proceedings after that. The timeline pushes any decision on the matter out to next December.

State regulators may also get a chance to rule on whether the wind farm meets fire-code, though Iberdrola says it hopes to resolve that issue with the state fire marshal prior to the hearing.

Sam Evans-Brown has been working for New Hampshire Public Radio since 2010, when he began as a freelancer. He shifted gears in 2016 and began producing Outside/In, a podcast and radio show about “the natural world and how we use it.” His work has won him several awards, including two regional Edward R. Murrow awards, one national Murrow, and the Overseas Press Club of America's award for best environmental reporting in any medium. He studied Politics and Spanish at Bates College, and before reporting was variously employed as a Spanish teacher, farmer, bicycle mechanic, ski coach, research assistant, a wilderness trip leader and a technical supporter.
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