Los Angeles County - WECS-N and Temp Met Towers

Title 22 – Planning and Zoning of the Los Angeles County Code establishes development standards for non-commercial wind energy conversion systems (WECS-N) and temporary meteorological towers. The ordinance requires a conditional use permit prior to the installation of a non-commercial wind energy conversion system in the unincorporated areas of the county, and it establishes a procedure for the director of planning to grant a minor conditional use permit for applications that are limited in scope and impacts.

Wind energy conversion system, non-commercial (WECS-N):

A facility consisting of a tower, wind turbine generator with blades, guy wires and anchors, and associated control and conversion electronic equipment to convert wind movement into electricity, with a rated capacity of not more than 50 kW; and that is incidental and subordinate to another use on the same parcel. A facility should be considered a WECS-N only if it supplies electrical power solely for on-site use, except that when a parcel on which a WECS-N is installed also receives electrical power supplied by an utility company, excess electrical power generated by the WECS-N and not presently needed for on-site use may be used by the utility company in exchange for a reduction in the cost of electrical power supplied by that company to the parcel for on-site use, as long as no net revenue is produced by such excess electrical power.

Temporary meteorological tower (Temp Met Tower):

A facility that consists of a tower and related wind-measuring devices which is used solely to measure winds, temperature, and humidity preliminary to construction of a non-commercial wind energy conversion system.