Economic power of wind touted

Colo. landowners, communities should cash in,
advocate says

By Steve Raabe
Denver Post Business Writer

Tuesday, April 09, 2002 – Wind energy can produce powerful economic
benefits in addition to its more apparent environmental attributes, energy
authorities said Monday at a Denver conference.

A wind farm in southern Wyoming has helped reverse the economic decline
of depressed Carbon County, while similar facilities in Colorado are
producing steady income for farmers and ranchers.

"For you landowners, this is about money – money in your pocket," said Dale
Osborn, president of Evergreen-based Distributed Generation Systems Inc.

Osborn said Colorado could reap significant economic benefits if state
legislators approve a pending bill that would require utilities to generate
some of their power from wind and other renewable sources.

Colorado is the nation’s ninth-largest wind generator, with about 61
megawatts of generation – enough to supply a community of 60,000
residents – from the Ponnequin and Peetz wind farms in northern and
northeastern Colorado.

The two farms supply less than 1 percent of Colorado’s electricity. But the
percentage would grow under a proposal for a 162-megawatt farm near
Lamar to be developed by the wind-generation unit of Enron Corp., which is
being sold to General Electric. Xcel Energy would buy the project’s electric
output.

Earnings add up

Energy officials extolled wind’s economic benefits to about 250 participants
at a conference titled "Colorado Wind & Distributed Energy: Renewable for
Rural Prosperity."

Individual landowners could earn $1,000 to $2,500 per year in lease
payments for each wind turbine on their agricultural property.

But on a larger scale, wind farms provide new jobs, higher property taxes
and a big economic boost for their host communities.

"Wind is very interesting to states and counties because of the money that
can be made from it," said Troy Gagliano, a policy associate with the
National Conference of State Legislatures.

Wyoming’s Carbon County enjoys a $480,000 annual property-tax windfall
from the Foote Creek Rim wind farm, built on barren land north of Interstate
80 that has almost no agricultural potential.

In addition to a big construction-spending boost when the $95 million farm
was built from 1997 to 2000, Foote Creek Rim produced 18 permanent
full-time operations and maintenance jobs, and nine more jobs from local
contractors.

The jobs pay on average $32,500 a year, about 50 percent higher than
Carbon County’s average wage of $21,117, said Michael Azeka, senior vice
president of project development for SeaWest WindPower Inc., operator of
the Foote Creek Rim wind farm.

Over a 20-year period, the wind farm will produce more than $13 million in
tax levies on equipment, property and sales, Azeka said.

Nevada and Texas lawmakers have passed so-called "renewable portfolio
standards" that require utilities to generate some power from renewable
resources.

Nevada has the nation’s most aggressive plan, eventually requiring 15
percent renewable power. That will produce $3 billion in economic
benefits, Osborn said.

State missing out?

Colorado lost a major economic plum last week when Vestas Wind Systems
cancelled a plan to build a wind-turbine manufacturing plant in Pueblo,
opting for Portland, Ore.

"Vestas took a 1,000-employee manufacturing plant to Portland instead of
Pueblo because we’ve been dawdling in Colorado," said renewable-energy
advocate Randy Udall of Carbondale.

Texas’ renewable law was signed several years ago by then-Gov. George W.
Bush.

"Do you think George Bush signed that bill because he wanted to hug a
tree?" Osborn said. "Not a chance. It’s all about money."

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,33%257E515278,00.html