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Winds of change carry pros and cons
By Nancy L. Torner
Center for Rural and Regional Studies

Southwest Minnesota possesses the land and the air to capitalize on wind power.

However, this fastest-growing energy source in the world today carries its share of problems.

How turbines work
    Wind turbines, like aircraft propeller blades, turn in the moving air and power electric generators that supply electric current. Electricity from these turbines is fed into the local utility grid and distributed to customers like any other power source.
    The major challenge to using wind as a source of power is its intermittent nature, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. It does not always blow when electricity is needed, and it cannot be stored without batteries. Backing up wind power with solar power is a costly option.

Wildlife issues
    Numerous field studies in Minnesota and other parts of the world have found low mortality rates related to turbine blades, according to data from the Toronto Renewable Energy Cooperative. Although deaths associated with electrocution at transmission lines pose greater risks, conventional power lines are considered more dangerous.
    Studies also found that extensive alterations to sites and the continued presence of people and vehicles serve to disrupt animal and breeding bird populations.
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    • The American Wind Energy Association lists Minnesota's wind energy potential at 75,000 megawatts, or about seven times the state's net consumption. Harnessing wind power is considered the cleanest source of energy.

    Buffalo Ridge hosts the state's largest wind farm to date. More than 400 wind turbines generate about 304 megawatts of electricity and more are planned, Lincoln County Commissioner Jim Nichols said.

    "There's nothing today to compete with wind energy," Nichols said. "It's not just that it's good for the environment, and we think good for the community, it's cheap power."

    Yet Nichols recently spearheaded a 60-day county moratorium on wind turbine construction. He and other county officials say tax exemptions and tax-rate classifications adopted during the state legislature's last session hurt rural communities (Click here to link to a related story from the Marshall Independent).

    Wind generators provided more than $750,000 in property tax revenue for the county last year. This year, tax exemptions will slash revenues by about $300,000, Nichols said.

    Not everyone relishes the sight of nearly 300-foot tall towers standing on the open landscape or the existence of high voltage lines attached to them. If rural areas play host to wind farms, they deserve proper compensation, Nichols said.

    On the other hand, 40 new jobs related to turbine maintenance now exist, said Mike Carpenter, chairman of Lincoln County's Economic Development Authority. In all, about $300 million in investment flowed into Lincoln and Pipestone Counties through wind-power projects.

    Minnesotans for an Energy-Efficient Economy and others consider tax incentives vital to promoting alternative energy sources. A new federal tax incentive currently is under consideration.

    Tradeoffs

    The Buffalo Ridge project evolved from a need by the former Northern States Power Company, now ExCel Energy, for additional nuclear waste storage space at its Prairie Island nuclear power plant. Before the state granted the company permission to build 17 waste storage casks, it ordered the exploration of alternative energy sources.

    Lincoln County lobbied for a wind project, Nichols said.

    The state legislature in 1994 ordered the company to provide 425 megawatts of wind-powered energy by the end of 2002. The Public Utilities Commission later upped the requirement to a total of 825 megawatts by 2012. Nichols expects ExCel to meet the original goal this summer.

    "We're going to see more of this, and we need more," Nichols said. "Actually, thousands of megawatts could be produced on the ridge."


        Guidelines from various states suggest restricting tower construction near wilderness areas, national parks, critical habitat for endangered species, major migration areas, bird sanctuaries and bodies of water.

    However, he would prefer that farmers own the turbines rather than merely renting land for wind farms operated by others.

    Most turbines belong to out-of-state companies that reap the energy revenues and pay land rental rates of between $40 and $55 per acre, Nichols said. Meanwhile, some energy companies pay about 3.35 cents per kilowatt, and they sell it at a premium for about 10 cents, he said.

    The up-front cost per tower of about $750,000 is a deterrent, Nichols said. Additionally, until a tower is up and running, it is impossible to figure out how many kilowatt hours it will produce. However, the same towers that sit on the ridge also operate in Iowa at a lower elevation and produce only about 10 percent less power, he said.

    "We need to keep more income in the communities," Nichols said. "As we get more local ownership, you're going to see more of the parts manufactured locally."

    Gary Stoks, president of S MI & Hydraulics in Porter already made inroads into wind-tower production. The company recently built five towers for a Danish firm, which resold them to the U.S.

    "We took it on just to see how it was going to work out for us," Stoks said.

    The company's name now is in circulation as a tower manufacturer.

    "If it got where things really took off, we already have plans to put up a new building and equipment," Stoks said.

    His plan also calls for doubling the number of employees to 100, which about equals Porter's population.

    "In the markets nowadays, you have to be versatile and have a few different ways of going after things," Stoks said. "For us, it doesn't just open us up to wind energy, it opens up pressure vessels and so forth."

    Farmers stand to earn 10 times the revenue if they own turbines rather than rent their land, said Dan Juhl, who owns turbines on a 10 megawatt wind farm on land he rents in Woodstock. He also runs DanMar Associates, a renewable energy consulting firm in Pipestone.

    "This could be a huge economic development tool for southwest Minnesota," Juhl said. "We've got a huge national resource in our back yard that could retain dollars in our communities, provide economic development jobs for the area, and we're completely missing the boat."

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    Last updated: February 1, 2006