News

New map may take wind energy off drawing board

April 1, 2002 /

MATR Sponsor (view all)

Welcome to MEDA: Leadership Dedicated to Building Montana's Economy

Not long ago, the American Wind Energy Association ranked Montana fifth among the 50 states for its
wind energy potential.

By BOB BROWN
Montana Secretary of State

That wasn’t news to Montanans. In fact, Livingston old timers say it’s the only place on earth where you can
walk around the block and have the wind in your face in every direction. During the infamous "Hard Winter" of
1886-87, the Fort Benton paper said the wind was so strong the cattle had to tie their tails to their hind legs to
keep them from being blown off.

Turning a profit

Montana has always been windy. But only in the past few years have state officials seriously begun looking
for ways to turn what might be considered a detriment into an asset. We’ve begun looking for ways to turn wind
into energy.
Wind is no panacea. It will not and cannot supplant conventional energy sources in the foreseeable future.
But it does have a lot to offer:

It can augment our existing power sources and help us feed our growing appetite for energy – sort of like
the dinner roll that complements our meat and potatoes.

It can provide us with a new and profitable commodity that we can export to the rest of the nation.

It can provide a possible source of income to Montana farm and ranch families.

It can allow us to do our part in preserving the planet for the generations of tomorrow.

It can be less vulnerable than other energy sources to terrorist attacks.

And when developed on state land, it can bring new and needed revenues to the state’s educational trust
fund.

There have been a lot of stories in the news lately about the potential for wind energy in this state. Montana
Power Co. (now NorthWestern Energy) has taken that potential seriously enough to contract for 150 megawatts
of wind as part of its default portfolio.
But before any wind development can proceed, we need to pinpoint the sites with the best wind potential.
We need sites where the wind blows often – where it blows hard but not too hard. We need sites that have easy
access to transmission lines and roads. And we need sites that don’t interfere with migratory flyways of birds.

Industrial-grade winds

That’s why the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a Colorado-based branch of the U.S. Department of
Energy, recently plotted the best and latest wind data to determine where in Montana those sites are. Readers
can see the resulting wind resource map online at http://www.windpowermaps.org
.
Some would say the map shows pretty much what we Montanans already know from experience. It’s not
earthshaking news to us that Havre, Great Falls, Lewistown, and Livingston are windy places. But for wind
developers, this map is a useful tool. It will help them take wind power off the drawing board and onto
Montana’s foothills and plains.
What NREL found when it collected and plotted its data is that almost 17 million acres of Montana – an area
slightly larger than West Virginia – are blessed with what they call industrial-grade winds. These have the best
energy potential.
For the past year I’ve met with wind experts from around the state to try to jump-start wind development in
Montana. As a member of the state Land Board, I’m especially interested in seeing development on school trust
lands. I want to drive past wind turbines someday and know that, with every turn of their giant blades, they’re
cranking out dollars for Montana schools and kids.
This map is an important first step in the direction of wind development in Montana.
There is yet another step we can take. For the past several years, Congress has authorized a federal tax
credit for wind production. This incentive expired last year. Recently, President George W. Bush signed the
economic stimulus bill, which included a two-year extension of that tax credit. This was a step in the right
direction, but didn’t go far enough.
Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., has co-sponsored a bill that would extend the credit for five years. There is
also a five-year extension in the energy bill the Senate is currently debating. Please join me in asking our
congressional delegation to push hard for this five-year extension. We have so little to lose and so much to
gain.