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Community Wind: What’s a guy to do?
December 22nd, 2009 by Mike Knutson
With wind farms popping up across the countryside, Midwesterners are becoming much more familiar with wind energy. Yet few are aware of the type of wind development called “community wind.” That should change, however, thanks to a new publication called “Lessons & Concepts for Advancing Community Wind,” which was recently released by the Minnesota Project.
What is Community Wind?
Without drawing much attention to it, I’ve talked about community wind before. In a nutshell, community wind involves local ownership of wind turbines. The electricity produced by the turbines is usually sold to area utilities.
This model flies in the face of traditional wind farms, where a company builds and operates large wind farms. Because wind energy is the focus of their business, these companies develop both the expertise and economy of scale that drives down the cost of production.
But the downside to the traditional model is that it is dependent on the development of new transmission lines and causes a greater share of the financial impact from the turbines to bypass the local economy.
Why aren’t there more community wind projects?
A simple answer to the question is that people who try to develop their own wind projects don’t know how to overcome the barriers that pop up in the development process. “Lessons & Concepts for Advancing Community Wind” attempts to address these issues by providing case studies of three community wind projects: City of Willmar, MN; Winona County MN; and Miner County, SD. These three projects were selected for review because each took a very different path to completion.
I’ve written about both the Miner County and Winona County projects before (see here and here). The “Lessons & Concepts” guide, however, digs in much deeper. It would have been nice to have had this guide back in 2001 when we developed the Miner County Wind Project.
And that’s the value of the guide. It’s intended to help people with little background in the energy industry build their capacity and understanding.
We’ve fielded a lot of calls at the Rural Learning Center through the years from people asking how we developed the Miner County Wind Project. We’re always happy to help. But time is so short that we often hang up having only scratched the surface on the subject.
That’s why the next time I receive such a call, I’m going to recommend the caller read “Lessons & Concepts for Advancing Community Wind” first. I’m confident doing so will make our conversation more productive.
Update: David Tidball from Windustry offers some great advice in the comment section to this post. For instance, he pointed out the “Communit Wind Toolbox” that Windustry has developed, as well as other great information on community wind (found here). Thanks David.
Other resources
- “Lessons & Concepts for Advancing Community Wind,” Green Building Matters, Dec. 15, 2009
- “Minnesota Project Releases ‘Lessons & Concepts for Advancing Community Wind,” Minnesota Ag Connections, Dec. 16, 2009
- “Wind Energy Case Studies,” Minnesota Project website.
Tags: community wind, miner county sd, Minnesota, Minnesota Project, Willmar MN, wind energy, Winona MN
Posted in Economic Development, Rural, Training and Events | Comments (
4 )
December 23rd, 2009 at 8:33 am
Windustry was a partner in the Energy Foundation supported work that led to the publication of this Minnesota Project Report. Windustry has had much of the information contained in this report in the form of its Community Wind Toolbox available on its website since 2007, with preliminary pieces available several years eariler and educational print materials as far back as the late 1990’s. The Community Wind Toolbox is a step-by-step series of chapters specifically designed to help rural landowners navigate the complex series of steps involved in getting a community wind project up and running. As such, it actually goes a step beyond this report by providing the specific guidance necessary to pursue a community wind project.
Other work well worth noting in the for-profit world is the work of Dan Juhl who a little over a year ago took his company public (www.juhlwind.com). Dan has specialized in Community Wind since the late 1990’s and has a wealth of expertise that he has made available throughout the upper mid-west. Developers like Dan are the next step beyond the Windustry Community Wind Toolbox, providing the expertise to take plans forged by the toolbox and turn them into projects constructed, commissioned and producing renewable energy and economic benefit for their communities. Dan is only the most visible of a significant and growing group of professionals dedicated to the notion that wind energy is done best when it is locally owned and controlled.
Windustry has been holding national community wind conferences in even numbered years since 2002. This year we received funding from the US Dept. of Energy to expand this effort into six regional conferences to be held over the next two years. Interested readers will want to stay tuned to the Windustry website (www.windustry.org) for information on a conference near them. Even the American Wind Energy Association, home turf to large-scale, absentee-owned wind projects saw the need to have a separate convention this past November in Detroit on small and community wind.
So, while this Minnesota Project report will be a valuable resource going forward, mostly it is a summary of a great deal of creative work already accomplished and being done in many other contexts by a variety of groups and individuals who have been hard at work for some time and expect to continue their work well into the future.
December 23rd, 2009 at 9:52 am
David,
I added an “update” to the post to make sure readers see the tool box you mention.
Windustry definitely does a lot of great work, and I’ve recommended your site on numerous occassions. There’s so much great information that I’ve previously missed the Community Wind Toolbox. Thanks for sharing.
December 24th, 2009 at 9:00 am
After reading the Minnesota Project’s report and browsing Windustry’s Community Wind Toolbox, I can’t help but wonder if we are completely missing the ball by not persuing a community wind project here in Deuel County. We have many of the wind industry ‘key players’ right here in Deuel County.
We have a number of local residents who are seasoned wind people / developers and contractors with key connections and years of industry experience that could function as ‘Private Consultants and Contractors.’ We consult with the Rural Learning Center and therefore have access to knowledge and assistance from a group that has successfully undergone a community wind project. We are the home to the headquarters of Energy Maintence Systems (EMS). We have a good relationship with our local electric cooperative, H-D Electric. We have advocacy groups such as the South Dakota Wind Energy Association, and Dakota Rural Action. We have one large wind deveolpment underway by wind developer Iberdrola Renewables. We have WAPA very likely coming into the area to construct a transmission line in coordination with Iberdrola’s Buffalo Ridge III project. We have a number of rural residents and landowners that are favorable to the idea (many of which who have already signed leases with Next Era Energy and Iberdrola Renewables). Our local zoning board has just gone through ordinance development to enable and encourage wind development within the county. And lastly, we have a economic development non-profit organization with full time staffing.
Do we have this opportunity staring straight in our faces, and we have been entirely missing it? I understand the huge challenges of a community wind development, particularly in South Dakota where the legislation has not advanced as quickly as Minnesota. But despite this, I can’t help but wonder if this is something our economic development organization should begin actively investigating.
December 24th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Brianna,
I’m pretty sure Jim Beddow has talked to some Deuel residents about that possibility. As the “Advancing Community Wind” resource states, it can be a daunting task that requires considerable determination by the stakeholders; but it can be well worth the effort.