Rock Port’s Loess Hills Wind Farm was built by the Wind Capital Group, and employed 500 workers from 20 states for about a year. Its four 1.25 MW wind turbines will generate 16 gigawatt hours (16 million kilowatt hours) of electricity annually. Since Rock Port’s energy needs are quite a bit less than that, the excess power will be purchased by Missouri Public Utility Alliance, the local electric company.

Rock Port, Missouri, is about half-way between St. Joseph, Missouri and Omaha, Nebraska. Located in rolling agricultural country, the city is home to some 1,400 residents. “Small town” you might say, no wonder they got together to get the place 100% wind powered. If that were the case then, why are there not hundreds of RockPorts 100% powered by wind all over the United States?

What makes Rock Port special? To be honest, several factors made this smaller scale project possible. The city has a bluff within the city limits with good resources, John Deere’s Wind Energy is financing the project, and Rock Port is not that far from the power grid. But if it weren’t for Eric Chamberlain – one person with an idea and the drive to make it happen – Rock Port would likely still be just another sleepy “show me” town.

Click here for Rock Port’s project announcement.

Click here for the Rock Port city website.

One of the best comparisons I’ve seen between the Goliaths of wind generation and us Davids is an excellent presentation that Tom Wind gave in Kansas in March 2008. Tom is a community wind activist working out of Jefferson Iowa. He is an engineer experienced in the utility business sector and has been involved in a number of projects where towns/farms/businesses have installed single turbines or small clusters of turbines on distribution lines.

In Getting Community Wind Off the Ground Tom first compares Corporate-owned and Community-owned wind projects, then drills down on Community Wind Project specifics:

• Describing some example projects
• Identifying key issues
• Laying out the development steps for various types of projects
• Identifying the policies needed to make Community Wind possible

He provides good information that will help you identify the project with the greatest interest and potential for success (Step One in the Seventeen Steps to Success):

• Wind turbines for farms make economic sense for small to medium sized farms when net metering is available, but are generally not favorable for very large agricultural operations.
• Wind turbines are attractive for family owned businesses where longer pay-back periods are acceptable but may not be attractive to large businesses where short pay-back periods on capital investments are expected.
• A single person or small group who pushes the project and doesn’t give up can make your school or college project successful.

And Tom suggests “currencies” that can attract potential stakeholders:

Farmer-owned wind farms: Make a case for a good economic return to attract the equity partner and to justify the farmer’s out-of-pocket development costs.

Although Tom doesn’t mention these all in his presentation, there are definitely specific issues for Community Wind Projects that do not affect Corporate Wind Projects:

• Problem: Big Corps are snapping up new turbines before they even hit the market leaving us little guys on a 2-year wait list; unless you order 50 or more turbines you may not even get turbine producers’ attention.
• Possible Solutions: Find reasonable used/refurbished turbines; find a non-US manufacturer who will sell smaller numbers of turbines; nose around in the wind business news to find turbines that were committed to other projects that are now not needed.
• Problem: Single turbine projects cost more money. Well yes, that IS true.
• Possible Solution: Reasonable cost savings can come from getting a used/refurbished turbine instead of a new one.

There are many economic factors involved in any wind project. Some are positive, some are negative. Your job is to do your homework. Find every possible plus factor that relates to your project. Research into every possible negative factor and see if/how it can be mitigated.

If you are interested in Community Wind Projects Tom Wind suggests that you work with/support your local, state and federal wind advocacy groups to get wind power policies in place that support us “little guys” – valuable things come in small packages…

 ….and community wind projects keep those crucial energy dollars so much closer to home.

As a final thought, Tom notes that a key factor in the success of every Community Wind Project is a determined local champion who does not give up easily. (That would be YOU!)