"Community Wind" uses wind turbines to power large, grid-connected loads, generally between 1 and 20 megawatts, such as schools, public lighting, government buildings, agriculture and municipal services.
The key factor is that these systems are owned by or for the benefit of the community. Farmers and local institutions such as towns, counties, banks, consumer-owned utilities and tribes can bring their own assets to the table, both financial and political.
"Small-scale Community Wind" typically utilizes 1-5 mid-size turbines of 1 MW or less. These projects typically connect to service or distribution level voltage, either behind the meter— offsetting a portion or all of the electricity used on-site by a load in the community, or by selling the renewable energy generated to the interconnecting utility.
"Community Based Wind Farm" development may include larger turbines (>1MW), with an average wind farm size of 10 to 20 MW. Such Wind Farms typically connect to a wider range of both distribution and transmission line voltages.
Unlike large ‘absentee’ corporate wind farms, Community Wind Farms keep more of the profits/resources in the local community, foster local energy independence, and protect the environment.
Community wind can complement corporate development and accelerate the adoption of clean wind energy with a more diverse set of stakeholders, locations, and wind resources.
The benefits of community wind, compared to “absentee” wind farms include:
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Local job creation averaging 2X to 4X that of “absentee” wind farms |
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Distribution near the load centers. In places where transmission is currently limited, community wind with its typically smaller scale can be developed closer to the load to serve local needs, avoiding costly substation build-outs and long-distance transmission network upgrades. |
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Stimulus for the local economy through business income, tax revenue, and local spending multiplier effects. This economic benefit, according to a University of Minnesota study, is as much as 5 X that of an absentee project. |
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Access to potentially lower-cost sources of capital, as community investors may accept lower returns than traditional, commercial investors, thereby improving project economics |
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Active involvement in and ownership by the local community, thereby reducing the “not in my back yard” (NIMBY) objections |
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Lower and more predictable costs for renewable energy. By diversifying the geographic spread of wind turbine projects, state, local, and national wind resources become more reliable and valuable. As more individual wind farms become interconnected and more wind energy is brought on-line, production costs and load payments decline. Large energy consumers become less reliant on fossil fuel and conventional energy with variable pricing. |
The map on the right provides a snapshot of US Community Wind capacity versus Total Wind Capacity, as of January 2010.
Community Wind represents only 4% of the overall capacity.
Nordic Windpower’s goal is to increase this percentage, thereby creating economic and environmental benefits in local communities.
