WIND BY THE BOOK
AURI
helps write the blueprint for community-based wind farms
By Dan Lemke
Marshall, MN –
Southwest Minnesota’s Trimont Area Wind Farm, LLC, generates
100 megawatts of electricity annually.
With 43 members, it is the largest landowner developed wind
enterprise in the nation, providing enough power for about
29,000 homes.
But TAWF board
member Richard Peterson says the early stages of developing
the wind farm were rocky, and the company would have
benefited with a better blueprint. “We were pretty naive,”
says Peterson, who farms near Mountain Lake.
“We thought we could just put the turbines up and put it all
together. But it’s a risky business to get into.”
Issues such as federal tax credits, power purchase
agreements, land easements and wind rights faced landowners
designing the project. TAWF eventually signed with PPM
Energy of Portland, Oregon to develop and operate the farm
and help navigate the complex waters of building a wind
farm.
Despite the steep
learning curve, the community-based farm has been providing
electricity to Great River Energy since November 2005 and
Peterson says the project could serve as a model for others.
Peterson chairs
AURI’s Center for Producer-Owned Energy board, which is
providing community-owned wind projects with tools for
making good business decisions. The Energy Center is
collaborating with the Southwest Initiative Foundation,
Minnesota Corn Research and Promotion Council and the
Minnesota Rural Energy Board to develop the “Community Wind
Development Handbook,” a decision aid for groups that want
to start community-based wind farms.
The handbook, which should be available by mid November,
will identify issues to consider and pitfalls to avoid.
Geared for 2 to 50 megawatt plants, it “will outline
examples of appropriate business and
ownership structures, permitting and government approval
considerations, financial, legal and accounting
considerations,” says Dennis Timmerman, AURI project
director. “It will also address marketing issues like power
purchase agreements and production tax credits, because
there are a lot of factors to consider.”
Minnesota has the nation’s fourth-highest level of installed
wind capacity, according to the American Wind Energy
Association. Only California, Texas and Iowa have more
capacity than Minnesota’s 750
megawatts. An estimated 10 percent of Minnesota’s power
needs are met through wind-generated
electricity. ■
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