Sue Sitter/PCT Lights blink atop turbines at a wind farm in northern Pierce County as the sun sets.

Representatives from a wind farm in northern Pierce County will ask the North Dakota Public Service Commission Dec. 17 for more time to meet state requirements to install an aircraft detection system on their turbines.

Representatives from Rugby Wind, L.L.C. will appear at a hearing scheduled for 11 a.m. in the Capitol in Bismarck.

The system would meet requirements of a law passed by the North Dakota Legislature in 2017 to install light mitigation technology, or systems to prevent lights atop wind turbines from continuously blinking at night. The aircraft detection system would turn on the turbine lights only when aircraft are detected within a three- to six-mile radius of the farm or at an altitude of 1,500 feet, according to information provided to Pierce County commissioners in September.

The Rugby Wind representatives attended a Pierce County commissioners meeting Sept. 7 to ask for a variance to install a detection tower on land owned by Pierce County resident Linda Ripplinger. The commission approved the variance.

Ripplinger later said the information provided by representatives from Rugby Wind and SWCA Environmental Consultants left her feeling confident about the safety of the technology.

Ripplinger said placing the tower on her land “is just fine with me. My renter is fine with it, too.”

She added SWCA representatives had explained how the system would keep aircraft and local residents out of danger. “I’m not worried about it at all. They have so many backup systems, I’m not worried about any accidents,” she said.

According to commission meeting minutes, Doug Mundahl, who lives near the farm, expressed concerns about the system’s safety. Mundahl declined to speak further about the system after the commissioners met.

Pamela Thompson, an executive assistant with the PSC, said she had received no public input on the Dec. 17 hearing. However, she noted members of the public could write letters to express their opinions to the PSC from Dec. 17 through Dec. 23.

In an email to the Tribune, Adam Gaber of Avangrid Renewables, a company involved with the installation of the technology said, “We understand the state’s law requiring light mitigation technology atop wind farm turbines and are making progress to comply with those requirements as soon as possible.”

Gaber added, “Our folks tell me we are currently installing new lights on our facility. The foundations will be poured this month and the tower is also scheduled to be erected as soon as this month, once the radar equipment delivered on site. After the radar equipment is installed and the weather cooperates, we will make it operational.”