Agenda - Council Work Session - 04/11/2023

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3.3 Limitations and Exceptions It is important to acknowledge the limitations of our data and subsequently our analysis of the characteristics of these sites relative to the criteria described above: • Our scope and budget did not include the design/layout work necessary to provide more accurate generation capacities. For example, we did not plot or estimate small reductions in acreages related to leachate or gas collection systems. Our generation capacities are estimates based on the GIS data available at the time of this study. • The buildable acreages calculated for the buffer may underestimate the buildable area. The various data sets may double count some acres for exclusion that appear similar depending on the method of data acquisition and sensing/analysis technique. We attempted to eliminate double counting (e.g., wetlands and open water) where we could. Generally, we believe our buffer generation capacity values to be conservative. • Data on substation type was not considered for this study, only distance to a substation. Because a substation is close doesn't necessarily mean it is available for connection. Transformer capacity is a key variable as is the capacity of the lines attached to the substation. The accuracy and availability of public information about substation capacity is questionable. This type of information would need to be obtained from the owner and was beyond the scope of this study. In our review of available GIS data sets we discovered there is much readily available GIS data describing land use and features for Minnesota. However, we discovered some issues which limited their usefulness in ranking all CLP sites. • For many of the criteria there were no readily available GIS data to support ranking for each landfill site. The following are examples of criteria excluded for this reason: o Local land use/zoning o Transmission/distribution/substation grid capacity • Some of the criteria were associated with multiple variables and there was no viable way to accurately score the criteria for all the sites in the CLP based on the GIS data. The following is a list of criteria that was excluded for this reason: o Interested power purchaser o Local acceptance o Investor interest and availability o Ecological co -benefits o Equity considerations • For some criteria we were unable to identify a workable scoring model that made sense and accurately compared the sites across the state. The following is a list of criteria that was excluded for this reason: o Interested power purchaser 13