http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/27239Wind power industry soars to new heights
By LEE BOWMAN
Scripps Howard News Service
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Most of the time, farmers have little use for the wind.
They might harness it to pump water for livestock or irrigation, but the harder blows are more likely to flatten crops in fields or steal their soil.
These days, on more acres across the country, a steady wind is like money in the bank - if electricity-generating turbines can catch it.
Wind farming is a reality, or soon will be, in all but about 10 states, offering a "double-cropping" benefit to landowners who can reap thousands of dollars a year for each turbine on their property, along with most of whatever revenue the land was already producing, including agricultural subsidies.
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According to the American Wind Energy Association, a national trade association for the wind energy industry, wind power is expected to generate more than 31 billion kilowatt-hours this year - enough to power some 3 million homes. That's still less than 1 percent of the nation's electrical production capacity.
By some estimates, if wind generation, along with other renewable power sources, could meet a lofty goal of providing 20 percent of the country's electric power, land lease payments for turbines would be worth as much as $1.2 billion a year by 2020.
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"The economics of wind become better as other energy costs go up, particularly if the hidden costs of burning carbon-based fuels start to be factored in," said Carol Werner, executive director of the non-partisan Environmental and Energy Study Institute in Washington, D.C.
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"The technology has vastly improved," said Randall Swisher, executive director of the American Wind Energy Association. "Half of the projects in the upper Midwest are in spots that wouldn't have been considered a decade ago, but developers have gotten better at finding wind hot spots closer to major markets in places like Indiana and Missouri."
With wind-generating capacity increasing at nearly 30 percent a year, companies that make the turbines and generators are starting to invest in American plants to make the equipment, a move more practical because shipping the giant components long distances can add tens of thousands to their costs.
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