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Small Wind: The next community development opportunity?
October 28th, 2008 by Mike Knutson
Small wind is a term used to define wind turbines of under 100 kilowatts. As wind developers push the size of utility scale wind turbines to 1.5 megawatts and larger, many people are also turning to small wind as an option for homes and small businesses. This is especially true in off-grid applications.
Inspired by the economic and social conditions in Haiti, Shayne Frayne developed a “miniature” wind generator based on a revolutionary “turbine-less” design. Although difficult for most of us to imagine, Frayne does a nice job of explaining his Windbelt technology in the video below:
Small Wind & Mental Models
In a post yesterday, Joe described how our “mental models” can blind us from recognizing new ideas and opportunities. Frayne obviously overcame that problem in developing the vision for his wind generator.
In a similar fashion, leaders in Miner County, South Dakota developed a vision for how wind energy could help transform their struggling economy. Beginning in 2001, the community set out to accomplish that vision by:
- supporting a wind energy start-up company (a second company followed in 2006);
- putting up four small 108 kW turbines in the county;
- developing the tools and capacity necessary to create new green jobs.
With over 200 new green jobs created since 2001 in the county of 2,800, that vision is paying dividends.
So, why didn’t more communities recognize this opportunity? Part of the answer can undoubtedly be attributed to the mental models created by cheap energy and decades of decline in rural communities.
Today, many communities see the opportunity and are rushing to see if they can become a home to a wind turbine farm or a wind energy business. With growing job and financial opportunities, it’s a great opportunity to pursue.
At the same time, I hope those of us in rural communities pause long enough to examine the mental models that cause us to covet this kind of development. Perhaps our rush to get into the wind energy game has blinded us to other opportunities like those of the WindBelt. And we can’t afford to miss any opportunities just because we’re in too big of a hurry to pause and think.
See the following for further information:
- Humdinger Wind Energy
- BusinessWeek — “Humdinger’s Wind Power Alternative“
- Discover Magazine – ”10 Everyday Technologies that can change the world“
Tags: community wind, mental models, miner county sd, Miner County Wind Project, Small Wind, South Dakota, wind energy
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