Farmers and ranchers in the United States are discovering that they own not only land but also the wind rights that go with that land. A farmer in Iowa who leases a quarter acre of cropland to the local utility as a site for a wind turbine can typically earn $2,000 a year in royalties from the electricity produced. In a good year, that same plot can produce $100 worth of corn. Wind turbines strung across the farm at appropriate intervals can provide a welcome boost to farm income, yielding a year-round cash flow.

Harnessing the wind has become increasingly profitable. The American Wind Energy Association reports that the cost per kilowatt-hour of wind-generated electricity has fallen from 38 cents in the early 1980s to 3 to 6 cents today depending primarily on wind speed at the site. Already competitive with other sources, the cost of wind-generated electricity is expected to continue to decline. These falling costs, facilitated by advances in wind turbine design, help explain why wind power is expanding rapidly beyond its original stronghold in California.

As wind farms have come online in farming and ranching states such as Minnesota, Iowa, Texas, and Wyoming, wind electric generation has soared, pushing U.S. wind generating capacity from 1,928 megawatts in 1998 to 2,490 megawatts in 1999 — a gain of 29 percent. Contrary to public perceptions, the potential of wind power is enormous. A U.S. Department of Energy wind resource inventory found that three states — North Dakota, Kansas, and Texas — have enough harnessable wind energy to meet electricity needs for the whole country.

At a time when farmers are struggling with low grain prices, some are now finding salvation in this new “crop,” enabling them to stay on the land. It is like striking oil, except that the wind is never depleted.

In the Great Plains where an acre of rangeland produces only $20 worth of beef a year or where an acre in wheat may yield $120 worth of grain, the attraction of wind power is obvious. For ranchers with prime wind sites, income from wind could easily exceed that from cattle sales.

One of the attractions of wind energy is that the turbines scattered across a farm or ranch do not interfere with the use of the land for farming or cattle grazing. Farmers can literally have their cake and eat it, too.

Another attraction is that much of the income generated stays in the local community, whereas if electricity comes from an oil-fired power plant, the money spent for electricity may end up in the Middle East. With a single large wind turbine generating $100,000 or more worth of electricity per year, harnessing local wind energy can revitalize rural communities.

And it is not only the wind farms themselves that provide income, jobs, and tax revenue. The first utility-scale wind turbine manufacturing facility to be built outside of California has recently started operation in Champaign, Illinois, in the heart of the Corn Belt.

Agricultural land values may soon reflect this new source of income. The wind meteorologist who identifies the best sites for turbines is playing a role in the emerging new energy economy comparable to that of the petroleum geologist in the old energy economy. The mere sight of a wind meteorologist installing wind-measuring instruments in a community could raise land prices.

Satisfying the local demand for electricity from wind is not the end of the story. Cheap electricity produced from wind can be used to electrolyze water, producing hydrogen, now widely viewed as the fuel of the future. With automobiles powered by fuel cell engines expected on the market within a few years and with hydrogen as the fuel of choice for these new engines, a huge new market is opening up. Royal Dutch Shell, a leader in this area, is already starting to open hydrogen stations in Europe. William Ford, CEO of the Ford Motor Company, has said he expects to preside over the demise of the internal combustion engine.

Farms and ranches may one day supply the hydrogen that will power the nation’s motor vehicle fleet, giving the United States the energy source needed to declare its independence of Middle Eastern oil.

Concerned about burning fuels that destabilize climate, government at all levels is encouraging the development of climate-benign renewable energy sources. In some states, utility commissions are requiring utilities to offer their customers a “green power” option. Although this usually means a slightly higher monthly electricity bill, many consumers worried about climate change are choosing green power. In Colorado, offering a wind power option to both residential and business electricity users has already led to the installation of 20 megawatts of wind generating capacity — an amount expected to double soon.

Many state governments are taking the initiative. Minnesota is requiring its largest utility to install 425 megawatts of wind-generating capacity by 2002. In Texas, the legislature has set a goal of 2,000 megawatts of generating capacity from renewable sources by 2009, with most of it expected to come from the Lone Star state’s abundant wind power.

At the national level, U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson is requiring that 7.5 percent of the electricity used in his Department come from renewable sources (excluding hydro) by 2010.

A formidable new alliance is emerging in support of wind energy. In addition to environmentalists, farmers and those consumers who favor green power are now supporting the development of the nation’s wind wealth. So, too, are political leaders in the farming and ranching states of the Midwest and the Great Plains, many of whom sponsored legislation in Washington to extend the wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), which encourages investment in wind power. Aside from the economic benefits of wind power, political interest is being spurred by a steady diet of news stories about the possible effects of global warming, including record heat waves and droughts, melting glaciers, and rising sea level.

Rapid growth in wind energy is not limited to the United States. Worldwide, wind electric generation in 1999 expanded by a staggering 39 percent. Wind already supplies 10 percent of Denmark’s electricity. In Germany’s northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein, it supplies some 14 percent of all electricity. Spain’s northern industrial province of Navarra gets 23 percent of its electricity from wind, up from zero just four years ago. In China, which recently brought its first wind farm online in Inner Mongolia, wind analysts estimate that the country’s wind potential is sufficient to double national electricity generation.

In Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands, individual farmers, or organized groups of farmers, are investing in the turbines themselves and selling the electricity to the local utilities, thus boosting the farmers’ share of income from wind power.

The world is beginning to recognize wind for what it is — an inexhaustible energy source that can supply both electricity and fuel. In the United States, farmers are learning that two crops are better than one, political leaders are realizing that harnessing the wind can contribute to both energy security and climate stability, and consumers are finding out that they can help stabilize climate. This is a winning combination — one that will help make wind energy a cornerstone of the new energy economy.

Copyright © 2000 Earth Policy Institute