community-based wind power projects

Gas prices are skyrocketing, home heating and electricity costs will soon follow, Washington is wrestling with the costs of ‘going green,’ biofuel production is cutting into food stocks - what’s a country to do?

Perhaps one approach for communities with an ample supply of both open land and wind is to partner-up in a wind power project. A company called National Wind is offering large landowners and communities a chance to partner in wind projects that operate somewhat like a cooperative. They offer landowners ownership in commercial-scale wind projects on a utility-scale community-owned basis (50 megawatts or larger, which at a minimum means 30+ wind turbines). The company’s approach is unique because it develops utility-scale community-owned wind projects that can compete with “traditional” or “corporate” developer’s projects. Traditional corporate developers offer landowners wind turbine lease payments and/or production incentive payments for a wind turbine placed on their property. Landowners don’t have a chance to own the project or to influence it. (more)

In National Wind’s model, landowners form a limited liability company in which they have majority ownership, while National Wind (the developer/project manager) has minority interest. This limited liability company facilitates the development of several wind projects in an area. The community has the opportunity to own “units” (similar to stock/shares) in the company and all the wind projects developed—not just one project. In addition to the ownership benefits, the landowners also receive the turbine lease payments and production incentive payments similar to traditional wind power developments.

Every limited liability company has a member’s advisory board made up of local landowners that represent the community and serve as liaisons with other landowners in the project. National Wind hires contractors, supervises design and construction, handles site assessment, utility agreements and deals with government agencies.

This business model works best in states where individuals own large tracts of land exposed to strong, steady winds like the Dakotas, Iowa, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Montana where the company has several projects underway, ranging from 50 megawatts to 750 megawatts in size.

While Congress and the oil companies clamor to open nature preserves and offshore areas to oil drilling and exploration and others will push for more nuke plants and ‘green’ coal — one innovative solution just may be blowing in the wind…a local wind at that, at least out-west.