The generation of electricity by wind is a growing industry in Pennsylvania. While wind energy is certainly an attractive alternative to the pollution produced by fossil fuel power plants, all potential environmental impacts must be measured if electricity produced this way is to truly qualify as “green energy.” Surprisingly, only minimal environmental studies need to be done to site a wind farm in Pennsylvania. Improper siting of some wind farms in the U.S. has impacted migratory bird, resident bird, and bat populations. We present bird-impaction data from an industrial facility 30 km south of a proposed wind farm in Luzurne County, Pennsylvania, that suggest caution in the blind embrace of this energy technology. Siting decisions are made at the local government levels and are primarily based on economic incentives. We argue (a) that this energy alternative must incorporate robust site-specific impaction studies at each wind farm to demonstrate effects throughout the Commonwealth, and (b) that local government officials be given the guidance necessary to encourage and provide environmental oversight to wind farms in their areas.

In community after community where industrial-scale "wind farms" have been proposed, mundane and sparsely-attended board meetings have been transformed into standing-room-only affairs. Residents and property owners are anxious to know whether rumored plans to construct twenty, fifty or even a hundred of the 400-foot tall wind turbines are "a done deal." Most significantly, the electorate wants to know the extent to which their town has the power to decide whether or not wind farms will dominate their rural landscape. /p

NREL has started to analyze the wind climatology at advanced turbine hub heights based on data measured on existing tall towers in Kansas, Indiana, and Minnesota. The highest measurement level at these towers was 90–110 m. There are two significant findings from the analysis: (1) the difference in wind resource at tall tower sites in the central United States seems to be controlled by the strength of the noctural and southerly winds; and (2) the average wind shear exponent of 50-100 m at tall towers in the central United States is influenced by strong southerly winds and is significantly higher than the 0.143 often used for conservative estimates of the wind resource at turbine hub height.

This working paper is made available by the Resource and Environmental economics and Policy Analysis (REPA) Research Group at the University of Victoria. REPA working papers have not been peer reviewed and contain preliminary research findings. They shall not be cited without the expressed written consent of the author(s).

Editor's Note: The authors’ conclusion regarding ‘effective capacity’, i.e. the measure of a generator’s contribution to system reliability that is tied to meeting peak loads, is that it “is difficult to generalize, as it is a highly site-specific quantity determined by the correlation between wind resource and load” and that ‘values range from 26 % to 0% of rated capacity.” This conclusion is based, in part, on a 2003 study by the California Energy Commission that estimated that three wind farm aggregates- Altamont, San Gorgonio and Tehachpi, which collectively represent 75% of California’s deployed wind capacity- had relative capacity credits of 26.0%, 23.9% and 22.0% respectively. It is noteworthy that during California’s Summer ’06 energy crunch, as has been widely publicized in the press, wind power produced at 254.6 MW (10.2% of wind’s rated capacity of 2,500MW) at the time of peak demand (on July 24th) and over the preceding seven days (July 17-23) produced at 89.4 to 113.0 MW, averaging only 99.1 MW at the time of peak demand or just 4% of rated capacity.

Zoning is a complicated problem. Zoning regulations vary from state to state and from one local jurisdiction to the next. There are perhaps 25,000 local zoning jurisdictions in the nation. Further, existing zoning laws seldom address distributed wind turbines. In this paper, we will highlight the experiences of veterans of zoning battles that illustrate this market barrier. We will look at the option of local action on distributed wind zoning to highlight certain shortcomings of this approach. Last, we will consider examples of state and federal limited preemption of local zoning authority as a means of promoting the implementation of new technologies, and we will present recommendations for action by the wind industry to pursue constructive and effective zoning solutions for distributed wind power.

Editor's Note: This paper, presented at the Windpower 2005 Conference held in Denver, Colorado May 15-18, recommends 'limited state preemption of home rule' as the most viable approach for wind advocates to eliminate zoning barriers to distributed wind.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT: SEC. 16J. (1) AS USED IN THIS SECTION, A "WIND ENERGY SYSTEM" OR "SYSTEM" MEANS A WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM. (2) A WIND ENERGY SYSTEM SHALL BE PERMITTED IN ALL ZONING 3 CLASSIFICATIONS SUBJECT TO ALL OF THE FOLLOWING REQUIREMENTS:"

This 'informal white paper' authored by the renewable energy industry and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas addresses the impact of wind's intermittency on the need for the development of comparable capacities of reliable sources that can be called upon when the wind is not blowing. It contains a particularly interesting chart that characterizes different energy sources as 'base load', 'peak load' and 'intermittent' with their associated benefits and drawbacks. Wind is deemed 'intermittent' with the following benefits (no emissions, no fuel costs, stable cost, low operating cost) and drawbacks (not dispatchable, not responsive, transmission needs, low peak value).

In many parts of the country, wind farms are being installed to alleviate the need to build more electrical generating plants. These wind farms can have a profound effect on your public safety, utility, and governmental microwave systems by chopping and reflecting the microwave beam.

Attached is a Wind Energy Easement Outline that discusses in some detail various provisions that can be found in wind energy easement agreements. The purpose of the outline is to give you a general idea of what types of provisions might be contained in any easement agreement or easement option agreement that may be presented to you by wind energy developers in an effort to obtain certain wind energy easements over all or a portion of your land. It is not a comprehensive discussion of the topic and is meant only to be a guide. A wind energy easement agreement, like any easement agreement, is a legally binding agreement that needs to be carefully reviewed and understood before executing it. A wind energy easement agreement will have a long term effect on you and your land. It will effect not only you but future generations. It is important that you not agree to or execute any easement agreement or easement option agreement until you have discussed it with your attorney and he or she has had an opportunity to review it. It is strongly advised that upon receiving a wind energy agreement or option agreement that you take it to your attorney along with the attached outline for his or her review.

With the emergence of recent proposals, there appears to be growing interest in expanding renewable energy sources in New Hampshire. New Hampshire’s government has taken several steps to encourage the use of renewables, including setting net metering guidelines for small-scale generators (less than 25 kW) of photovoltaics, hydroelectric, and wind.1 Net metering guidelines in New Hampshire require that utilities purchase any electricity generated by small scale generators in excess of what they use. Further developing renewables beyond small-scale generation, particularly wind, can help New Hampshire increase the proportion of energy generated from renewable sources. In fact, developing the full potential of wind resources in the state holds great promise for helping to meet the state’s energy needs.