Community Owned
What is community wind?
Community wind projects are locally owned by farmers, investors, businesses, schools, utilities, or other public or private entities and they optimize local benefits. The key feature is that local community members have a significant, direct financial stake in the project beyond land lease payments and tax revenue.
"Broadening Wind Energy Ownership by Changing Federal Incentives" from the New Rules Project
This April 2008 report from the New Rules Project discusses how simple changes to the federal production tax credit (PTC) and SEC registration process for cooperatives could significantly reduce barriers to community ownership of wind.
Download the report from the New Rules website here: http://www.newrules.org/de/ptc-wind-ownership.pdf
South Central Kansas Regional Wind Energy Summit
With talk of wind as an alternative energy source for south-central Kansas, a wind energy summit is being planned for area producers, wind energy enthusiasts, landowners, county commissioners, city commissioners and other interested parties.
Steve Errebo, Lincoln County Commissioner, will give an overview of an entire completed wind farm project.
Community Wind Webinar from the Mid-Atlantic/ Southeastern Regional Wind Energy Institute - January 14, 2008
Windustry's own Lisa Daniels and Rebecca Pilcher-Cleland were two of the speakers for this webinar aimed at people interested in Community Wind in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern states.
Also presenting were representatives of the Hull Wind project in Hull, MA.
Kansas Community Wind Toolkit
This resource from the Kansas Corporation Commission is an Xcel spreadsheet that steps through the ins and outs of community wind in Kansas, including extensive discussion of areas with good potential for community wind development.
Community Wind in Kansas - 2008 Interview with Dan Nagengast
In this interview with the Climate Energy Project, Dan Nagengast of the Kansas Rural Center talks about community wind opportunities in Kansas.
South Dakota Wind Energy Resources
You can help bring wind energy to South Dakota and your community!
South Dakota has an amazing wind resource. In fact, South Dakota has the potential to produce more than one trillion kWh of electricity every year--that's enough to power almost a quarter of the entire country!
Minnesota legislator wants state to encourage small, locally-owned energy projects
Yesterday's Star Tribune reports that Rep. David Bly (Northfield) is expected to announce new legislation to encourage small, locally-owned projects in Minnesota following a model that has seen much success in Germany.
SolWest Renewable Energy Fair
"Neighbors Powering Community" is the theme of the tenth annual SolWest Renewable Energy Fair July 25-27, 2008 at the Grant County Fairgrounds in John Day, OR. Admission includes over 50 free workshops on both off-grid and grid-intertied renewable energy (RE) and sustainable living topics. A pre-fair workshop will install a grid-intertied solar backup power system.
Community Wind Toolbox is now live!
The Community Wind Toolbox offers high-quality practical information, interactive tools, and links to related information for farmers and rural landowners looking to develop commercial-scale wind projects.
Click on the icon below to go to the Toolbox!
