Farm energy production is blossoming

A business opportunity in farm energy production is something I can't pass by. I will move most of my time from blogging to developing a business plan; even so, I will post twice each week- fully remembering what my Grandma Moen used to warn: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions!"- to spur wind development and its subsequent rural development.

As you know, farm energy production is harnessing renewable energy sources such as wind, oil seeds, solar, biomass, geothermal, and microhydro to reduce energy consumption and sell excess energy in the forms of electricity and biofuels.

Farm energy production is fostered by federal legislation and regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other agencies such as IRS.

Here in South Dakota, which has the nation's fourth-best annual wind power potential of 1,030 billion kWh and marginal to good agricultural land, farm energy production is a superb fit into daily agricultural practices.
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In late May, former Senators Bob Dole (R-KS) and Tom Daschle (D-SD) released New Markets for American Agriculture, a report by the 21st Century Agriculture Project, sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center. The report highlights investing in biofuels and wind farms to provide farmers and ranchers with new and diversified sources of income.

"Today, America's farmers and ranchers are facing an array of new challenges. ... Amidst these many challenges, lay many opportunities...."

"A strong agricultural sector is a pillar of America’s growing economy,
• providing a secure domestic food supply
• helping to reduce our dependence on foreign oil
• generating renewable energy
• increasing exports and
• providing needed income to rural communities."
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"Representatives Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD), Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) introduced major new clean energy development legislation for the next Farm Bill. Their bipartisan bill expands the size and scope of the already-successful Farm Bill Section 9006 clean energy program into a new "Rural Energy for America Program," or REAP. HR 2154 IH cited as the 'Rural Energy for America Act of 2007.'" Source.
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Information research, analysis, and writing are put to work developing visible knowledge for farm energy.

In the same vein of making knowledge visible, "roadmaps" can be developed and marketed to
• streamline application
• reduce paperwork
• ensure feasibility and achievability and
• clarify who is as well as what technologies are eligible for different programs.

Visible knowledge informs and guides potential participants to ensure compliance and strengthen the likelihood of successful outcomes. Ag business and rural small business people have severe time constraints and may not have ready access to the broad scope of information and expertise they need to take part in farm energy projects. Visible knowledge tackles those two problems.
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On March 8, 2007 - Montana's senior U.S. Senator Max Baucus introduced Senate bill 828: To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to require the Secretary of Agriculture to make cost-share payments for on-farm energy production under the environmental quality incentives program.

Cited as the "On-farm Energy Production Act of 2007."

SEC. 2. Environmental Quality Incentives Program.

(a) Purposes- Amends Section 1240 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa).

SEC. 1240J. On-Farm Energy Production.

(a) In General- In carrying out the program under this chapter, the Secretary shall promote on-farm energy production by providing cost-share payments to producers that produce energy on the farms of the producers, including--

(1) solar energy;
(2) wind energy; and
(3) renewable fuel (as that term is defined in section 211(o) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)).

On-farm energy production amendment to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
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On-Farm Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy is in the March-April 2005 issue of the ATTRAnews newsletter.

• Solar-Powered Livestock Watering Systems
• Reaping What We Sow: A Long-Range View of Farm-Based Renewable
• Energy
• Biodiesel—A Primer
• ATTRA and NCAT Publications about On-Farm Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy
• The Realities of Wind Energy
• Resources for On-Farm Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy
• How Leaks and Worn Sprinkler Nozzles Cost You Money and
• ATTRA New and Updated Publications.
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A 24-hour summary of wind and temperature at Watertown, South Dakota.

'Til next time; Best Wind.

Wind power and wind energy definitions #3

Before getting to the definitions, a proposed change in the 2007 "Farm Bill" and farm energy has to be mentioned so producers can think about their businesses.

In late May, the former Senators Bob Dole (R-KS) and Tom Daschle (D-SD) released "New Markets for American Agriculture", a report by the 21st Century Agriculture Project, sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center. The report highlights investing in biofuels and wind farms to provide farmers and ranchers with new and diversified sources of income. One mentioned changein farm energy projects was "... streamline the application process for smaller, standardized projects by reducing paperwork."

HR 2154 IH is cited as the "Rural Energy for America Act of 2007" as the amendment of Section 9006 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 8106)
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Green credits/tags- These are but two of the units that are traded by wind farmers to organizations that want to reduce their pollution impact or that want to promote wind power development. Related term- green revenues.

Hub height- the height (40 - 320 feet and higher) at which the turbine rotor hub turns in the wind.

Interconnection- an electrical connection between one or more wind turbines and the power utility company's transmission line. If a wind turbine is built before an interconnection has been granted to the turbine operator, interconnection is not guaranteed. This predicament would be a "show stopper."

Each utility has its own requirements for an interconnection to prevent damaging the ability of the overall grid to distribute electricity. (Everything is connected to everything else.)

Large wind turbine- a wind turbine that typically generates 500 kW to 2 MW or more. Newspaper and television reports often focus on these turbines in corporate wind farming, but individual installations are also at school districts, colleges, and communities as well as off-shore. Examples are here.

Levelized- the present value of the total cost of building and operating a generating plant over its economic life, converted to equal annual payments. Costs are levelized in real dollars (i.e., adjusted to remove the impact of inflation).

Magnitudes of watt include-

• one watt, the amount of electric current in one ampere acting across a potential difference of one volt. Picture a 4W nightlight- not much ooomph.

• kilowatt (kW), 1,000 watts, the typical unit of measuring electrical power. One kW = 1.34 hp. A South Dakota home may use about 780 kWh per month.

• megawatt (MW), the increasingly common power output of large wind turbines. 1 MW = 1,000 kW = 1,340 hp.

Met tower- A "met tower" is a meteorological tower that collects wind speed and direction data at a number of heights on the tower. These towers are lightweight, guy-wire supported and have simple base plate and anchors for simplified erection. (One type is not guy-wired.) They are temporary structures that do not need a foundation. You may want to conduct a soil analysis to determine the soundness of the area in supporting a met tower and the associated guy wires.

The taller the meteorological tower, the better. Towers may be between 40 and 50 meters (132 and 165 feet) tall. Data is collected for up to 12 months and analyzed to give the site owners

• some sense of where the prevailing winds are
• what the diurnal wind speeds are and
• what the winter, summer and annual speeds are.

Since wind speeds vary from location to location, many lenders and investors tend to be skeptical of the general wind resource maps for site specific data verification. It is important to gather wind data from the location where a wind turbine will be sited.

Micro turbine- a wind turbine that typically generates less than 2 kW. The turbine is considered to be "silent," and can be attached to a home or work building {though this is not usually done}. An example is here.

Mid-size wind turbine- a wind turbine that typically generates from 10 - 500 kW. This power rating is often installed for community and ag operations wind power. An example is here.

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A handful of South Dakota wind (though not much yield)-

• 7 PM Jun 13, SSE at 10 mph light rain
• 4 PM Jun 13, S at 12 mph light rain
• 11 AM Jun 13, SSE at 10 mph light rain; mist
• 3 AM Jun 13, Calm
• 8 PM Jun 12, S at 18 mph.

Do contact me if you want to buy any of this blog's content or would like to have other specific wind power-related content uncovered.

'Til next time. Best Wind.