FARGO, N.D. – While we think of the wind as free, when it is blowing across your fields it may have monetary value, either to you or to someone else who wants to harvest it and sell the power.
“If someone approaches you to buy the wind rights on your farm, consider it carefully because you may be selling yourself short on a very valuable resource,” says Mark Chaffee of Chaffee Wind Farms in Fargo, North Dakota.
Chaffee and Schwankl work together on wind generation projects and are jointly developing a number of community owned projects in the range of 1.2 to 1.8 megawatts.
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Although the formulas for determining wind value are complex, Chaffee said wind is potentially viable if it runs in the 10 to 14 mph range. The more wind you have, the more power you can generate.
“You need ridges to put the towers on. You need Class 4 and Class 5 winds. For a wind turbine to be economically viable, you need an annual average of about 12 mph,” Chaffee said.
“But that depends on the site and tower height. You want the turbine to be taller than any nearby obstacles. You want smooth, clean wind.”
He said the better the site, the lower and cheaper the tower can be.
The power buyback arrangement with the local utility is also a significant factor in determining tower and turbine sizes.
If a farm requires more power than it can produce from the turbine, then it buys that shortfall power from the utility company. That’s just business as usual, but with a smaller power bill.
On the other hand, when a farm produces more power than it needs, it jumps into the enviable position of selling surplus power to the utility company. Electricity is metered back into the grid and the farmer gets paid for it.
Chaffee and Schwankl explained that the precise terms of the arrangement have to do with engineering each specific turbine project.
For example, a Minnesota project will typically justify a bigger turbine because that state passed a law in 1978 saying local utility companies must buy back power at the average retail price of all power going into the grid. Generating power on a small scale can be profitable.
But across the Red River in North Dakota, where the wind blows stronger, the deal isn’t as favourable for small scale power generation. North Dakota has huge reserves of coal and petroleum, plus a major hydroelectric dam, so the state legislature doesn’t look as favourably on wind power.
As a result, a North Dakota farm is more likely to get a recommendation for a turbine that fits its exact needs.
For more information, contact Mark Chaffee at mchaffee@myexcel.com.
