Wind Power

To the Editor:
Wind power is in the TV adds,  magazine,  newspaper articles and studies such as the study done by F. Larry Leistritz, NDSU.  He studied the economic benefits of the Langdon Wind Energy Center.  The Langdon Wind Energy Center has an economic benefit to the state of $225.7 million in a one time construction impact and a total annual impact of $4.4 million.
  There are two types of ownership—external developer owned and community owned .  External developer owned wind is funded largely by out of state investors who get the profit.  The Langdon Wind Energy Center is an external developer owned project.

“Community owned wind” is   the local ownership of wind farms.  The wind farm is funded and owned by the people of the community, with the   profits going to the local owners. The Luverne Wind Farm is a local owned project (Otter Tail Power recently purchased part of the wind farm.)  According to a recent study from the University of Minnesota, Morris, “community wind has four times the economic impact on local value added, and 2.8 times the impact on local job creation, relative to a corporate-owned development” (Kildegaard & Myers-Kuykindall, 2006).

Governor Hoeven’s   EMpower ND program does not mention community owned wind, nor does community owned wind appear in the Key ND Energy Policy Initiatives 2001-2008,  or in the 2008-2025 EMpower Comprehensive State Energy Policy.

According to Lloyd Anderson, a Fargo-based consultant with M-Power LLC, a locally owned wind resource development company, “North Dakota has tax incentives for wind energy development. But those incentives do not promote local ownership of wind farms. Other states in the region, including Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, have strong incentives to promote local ownership of wind farms.”
Governor Hoeven seems to think external developers should profit from North Dakota’s wind resources.  The Governor is to represent the people of North Dakota, not the external developers.  Can the Governor clear up this issue?
In these challenging times for North Dakota farmers it is time for the Governor to accept his responsibility to use strong incentives to facilitate the local economic development of one of North Dakota’s most promising resources.
  Tim Mathern supports community owned wind.  He believes it is a resource for the citizens of North Dakota. He feels it is past time to help North Dakotans develop our resources for our own profit, not for the profit of out of state investors.

Trana Rogne
Kindred, N.D.