Diversifying ag income through wind development

Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC) focuses on topics related to sustainable and alternative agricultural systems, crops and livestock.

On its Farm Energy Options / On-farm Energy Efficiency page is the section Farm Energy having a Wind sidebar link to Wind-Powered Electric Systems for Homes, Farms, and Ranches: Resources, an ATTRA publication.

Renewable energy and energy efficiency programs in the USDA 2007 "Farm Bill" may enable you to diversify farm and ranch incomes by developing ag energy resources. A co-op development effort will have the same economic impacts as ethanol deveopment is now delivering. Ten Steps to Wind Farming will help you write a development business plan.

During the last 24 hours here in Watertown, SD our wind varied from Calm at 3 AM to W at 15 mph at 8 AM to W at 17 mph at 9 PM. (Data from an automated NOAA weather station.)

Actions, circumstances pushing wind development

Over the last decade wind has been the world's fastest-growing energy source. Rising from 4,800 megawatts of generating capacity in 1995 to 31,100 megawatts in 2002, it increased sixfold. Ten Steps can help more land owners become wind farmers.

Many aspects are propelling wind development, including--greater awareness of the effects of fossil-fuel combustion pollution

• states' Renewables Portfolio Standards (RPS) is law in 26 states mandating that renewable energy sources provide a percentage of overall electricity generation. For example

California- accelerated this goal of 20% renewables to 2010 and set the state's 2020 goal at 33%.

New York- increased the amount of electricity generated from renewable resources to at least 25% of the state's supply by the end of 2013, with procurement of energy from additional resources.

• consistent price increases of crude oil, natural gas, and coal
• continued increased consumption of electricity (clearly highlighting the failure of energy conservation programs- but that's a topic which includes gasoline- for a later day)
• current (2007) drought conditions have significantly reduced hydropower generation and
• electricity "wheeling" which distributes power generated in the most windy states to metro areas having the greatest demand for electricity.

Ten Steps to Windfarming is a methodical way for every potential windfarmer (or windfarming group) to develop a winning business plan. Ten Steps will serve as both a "roadmap" and a completion checklist to prevent lost time and money.

The U.S. Department of Energy has state wind resource maps at its Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy web site. Some of the maps surpass even a Jackson Pollack abstract for their areas and patterns of color.

Click here for state Wind Resource maps .

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

'Til next time, Best Wind.

Ten Steps to Wind Farming (overview)

Ten Steps to wind farming for people who want to profit from- rather than curse- every windy day. Depending on the conditions at your site, that profit over the lifetime of the turbine may be significant. Windy days here are a sure thing; wind farming is a new aspect of living in northeastern South Dakota and other agricultural areas.

Another certainty in life are increasing costs for gasoline, natural gas, coal, and petroleum products. Revenue from a turbine will reduce the "sting" of those increases and preserve your quality of life. If you're thinking we're full of "hot air" (or some other substance), you can read about what is happened to a in states all over the U.S.

Harvesting electricity from the wind can be done by individuals, small business owners, ag business operators, community groups, and investment groups. (It is no longer rocket science.) They may wind farm to

• diversify income from their land
• sell grid-quality electricity to power companies and co-ops or
• sell green credits/tags to reduce the burning of fossil fuels and its pollution.

Ten Steps is the Wind Rush roadmap to harvesting electricity from our wind, power that can't be embargoed, monopolized, or limited by bad intent. From the Upper Great Plains to the Missouri Breaks to the plains of Kansas, wind power can be harvested as a year-round crop.

The Ten Steps roadmap is based on Ten Steps in Building a Wind Farm, from the American Wind Energy Association, [Retrieved from source, 20 October 2005].

Electricity consumption will continue to increase along with the inevitable upward climb of petroleum products, ensuring higher value of wind power for decades to come. Ten Steps highlights the actions you can take to profit from the wind we once wished upon our worst enemy.

Most people, before they pick up a roadmap and go, figure out how much it's going to cost. It doesn't matter whether you're building something, planting something, or shopping for the best deal; if it's going to cost too much, most people won't waste their money.

(Big Oil knows this and tests the upper limit of gasoline pricing; last year it was $2.80 a gallon, this year it was $3.10. We can expect the cost of gasoline to continue drifting up based on the test results.)

A wind turbine works for you every day the wind is 17 mph or more, harvesting electricity to reduce your utility bill or for selling to a power company. It generates its "rated power" (in parenthesis below) at 30+ mph wind speed. Depending on the size of wind turbine you or your group want to install, you can expect to pay

• $1,000 - $6,000 or more for a micro wind turbine (300 W - 1.5 kW) and tower
• $27,900 - $44,900 for a small wind turbine (10 - 20kW) and
  tower
• $110,000 for a mid-size wind turbine (100 kW) and tower and
• $725,000 - $2,000,000 for a large wind turbine (700 kW - 2 MW) and tower.

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

'Til next time. Best Wind.