The Public Service Commission has canceled a workshop on wind farm decommissioning.
Instead, the PSC will deal with the companies that operate the wind farms on a case-by-case basis.
When a wind farm reaches its 10th year of operation, the company is to meet with the PSC to talk about what happens when the turbines are no longer needed. Commissioner Randy Christmann says the companies have to have plans to clean up those sites.
"We don't want to get to a point a generation or two from now, where these things are just sitting around out there, doing nothing," said Christmann. "If it becomes a case where they're no longer being refurbished, they need to be gone."
Four turbines have been operating for nearly 10 years. They’re the single turbine along I-94 near Valley City; a single turbine near Petersburg on US Highway 2; and two turbines off US 83 south of Minot.
