Comments on: Farmer- And Family-owned Wind Rises In Iowa

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 03 May 2013 18:43:00 +0000

Ditto.

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Fri, 03 May 2013 16:42:00 +0000

Everyone who lives in the area of wind farms benefits.

Wind farms pay substantial local taxes and hire people who pay taxes. Those taxes help pay for everyone’s schools, fire/police, road repair, health services. They bring more business to struggling small towns, improving shopping opportunities and creating even more jobs.

The land owners who do lease to turbines have more money to spend locally. That benefits many local businesses including those who sell agricultural equipment.

Republican governors went to bat for wind farm subsidies last December because wind farms are help many of their citizen voters, not just the land owners.

By: John Farrell

John Farrell — Fri, 03 May 2013 14:24:00 +0000

James,

It’s true that farmers can get something out of the big model, but only those that host turbines and not anyone else in the geographic viewshed of the turbines.

I’m not sure what you mean by management tools. Community-based projects (like the South Dakota Wind Partners) contract with the same folks for operations and maintenance as the big developers.

Economies of scale for solar are fairly significant up to the megawatt size – one reason why laws supporting community ownership are so important – but economies of scale for wind fall off sharply beyond a handful of turbines, one reason community-based can be competitive with bigger projects. Additionally, smaller wind projects (like the ones Randy developed) can often interconnect on the lower voltage grid, taking advantage of existing capacity rather than waiting on new high voltage (and often unpopular) transmission development.

By: Richard Fenneman

Richard Fenneman — Fri, 03 May 2013 14:21:00 +0000

I agree with that. I have nothing against wind power, but one of the reasons that I like solar PV is the fact that it can make electrical production more democratic. Germany has made huge strides in this area. They have also managed to accomplish this with a much smaller solar resource than the US has available. We just have to make a commitment.

By: James Wimberley

James Wimberley — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:58:00 +0000

I support the democratic model of renewable development, but it’s unfair to suggest that farmers and communities do not get anything out of the big investor model. They get rents and local taxes respectively. Community ownership also captures the profits (and potential losses, if the market becomes saturated.) Question to John: can small community-owned wind farms deploy the same sophisticated management tools as big investors?
I suppose that the economies-of-scale in solar PV apply almost entirely at the installation stage, since there’s no maintenance to speak of.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:24:00 +0000

Ditto!

would also be great if the community ownership model caught on and spread more. that would make a big difference in several ways.

By: Richard Fenneman

Richard Fenneman — Thu, 02 May 2013 22:46:00 +0000

I can attest to the the large amount of wind projects in Iowa because I am a resident. Most of the wind farms are being put up by big corporations. I didn’t know that some local producers were getting into the fray. This is good news. Now, if we can get more solar projects started, we can really make some progress.