Date: 8/24/2015

Source: M. Clements, National Association of Farm Broadcasters

Audio with Charles Newcomb, director of technical strategy at Endurance Wind Power Inc. (MP3 2.63 MB). Download Windows Media Player. Time: 00:02:51.

Farmers interested in wind power have the opportunity to provide power to their own farm via a wind turbine. Charles Newcomb is the technology strategy director at Endurance Wind Power and a former farmer. He says wind power could be a viable option that brings sustainability to the farm.

"We have to be honest with ourselves and say, if we look far enough in the future, we know we have to have a new energy economy. So just in the same way that there is a place for agribusiness and large-scale farms, there's also a place in the ag economy for the small owner farm. We need to make sure we understand and appreciate the role that distributed wind can play, not unlike the small family farm."

He says farmers who are interested in wind energy need to ask themselves why they want wind turbines on their land.

"There's an investment driver, so if they want to invest in it, something that pays for itself pretty quickly at a reasonable rate. Some folks think about it in terms of energy independence because they are independent-minded people, and some people want it because they want resilience, they want to be able to weather some sort of a utility outage. And depending on the driver for the investment, that speaks a great deal to whether it's a good investment or a bad investment."

He does warn farmers, though, there are some times when it does not make sense to pursue wind energy.

"Firstly, if you are in a place with a poor wind resource, you probably don't want to do it because you either end up not making the investment you want, not having the resilience you want, or not having the independence that you want."

Newcomb says to get wind energy on the farm, the first step is to get a wind assessment.

"We look for generally windy areas, and that means winds need to be above about 11 miles per hour on an annual average basis. Generally you want good exposure to the wind, and you want to avoid steep terrain or complex terrain. And there are a lot of resources out there, if you were to Google the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's WINDExchange or Wind Prospector, you'll come up with maps that show you what the wind in your general area is."

He says incentives are available in the United States for farmers, ranchers, and rural small business owners who would like to install a wind turbine.

"The database for state incentives for renewable and efficiency, you have to be careful when you key this one in, its d-s-i-r-e, DSIRE, and it will have a comprehensive list by state what incentives are available and also some federal incentives. Another place to go is the USDA, so if you Googled USDA Energy Program, you would come up with the Renewable Energy for America program and that's a good site to go to, and then finally state energy offices are also going to be able to turn you on to any incentives that might be available in that locality."

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