By Rod Rose/The Lebanon Reporter
Lebanon — Dozens of “giant white ghosts” could arise from Boone County farmland because of a renewable energy resource hundreds of feet above the ground.
It’s the wind.
At 100 meters (330 feet), wind blows across Benton County’s 126,000 acres of cropland at eight kilometers per second, or just under 18 mph.
To harvest those breezes, three companies have erected more 400 wind turbines in Benton County, with nearly another 300 planned. More than $1.5 billion has been or will be invested in the wind farms that send energy to Chicago, Philadelphia and Baltimore, Benton County Extension Educator Jimmy Bricker told the Boone Area Plan Commission earlier this month.
Testing by the state in 2004 found that 100 meters above areas of Boone, the wind flows at a dependable 15.6 mph.
“You have an economically-viable wind source,” Bricker said, “and that’s why people are knocking on your door.”
Bricker and Clinton County Extension Educator Kurt Emmanuel spoke about wind farm issues with the Boone Area Plan Commission on June 3.
“We need to educate the people who are going to sign these leases,” said APC member Ken Hedge.
Doug Akers, Purdue Extension Boone County educator, asked if wind farms were a way to preserve farmland.
“You’re going to have some complex issues to discuss, because you’re more urbanized than us,” Bricker said.
Still, Boone is “the proper place for things like this,” Bricker said.
“There’s a lot to be understood,” Bricker said.
What land planners call the “highest and best” use of property must be considered, Bricker said.
In some northern Indiana counties, with picturesque Amish farms scattered between small towns, “Maybe the HAB is not wind but tourism,” Bricker suggested.
Bricker suggested several things to consider in an ordinance regulating wind farms.
Boone County will have more control of wind farms if it focuses on commercial, rather than individual, use, he said.
Building permits for each wind turbine should be based on the megawatts produced, Bricker suggested. Benton County charges $1,750 per megawatt. A typical commercial turbine produces 1.5 megawatts, but the output is being increased as more efficient designs are built.
Public opposition should be expected, Bricker warned.
“This would be the first county we would be likely be walking into unfriendly territory,” Bricker said. A February meeting at the Boone County Fairgrounds attracted more opponents than fans.
A wind farm is “a boon to farmers,” Emmanuel said, but regulations must recognize the boundary between rural and urban areas.
Farmers are paid $5,000 to $14,000 a year to sign a turbine lease.
Residential and commercial pressures on land use will be a factor.
Some of Benton County’s farms are up to 10,000 acres, creating what Bricker called “burdensome” property taxes.
Tax and other revenue from wind farms brings about $2 million a year to Benton County, Bricker said.
A wind turbine’s 40 x 60 foot base is considered an industrial use for property tax purposes, Bricker said.
Up-front costs and the 20- to 50-year working life of a wind turbine make a wind farm commitment irreversible, Bricker cautioned.
“You’re talking about signing a contract ... for a minimum of 50 years,” Emmanuel said.
Clinton County requires persons building near wind farms acknowledge in writing they are aware of the developments.
Three wind farms are proposed in Clinton County, Emmanuel said. Construction on the first should begin in spring 2011, he said. Two are in eastern Clinton County; another will be just northeast of Colfax.
“There are more ways to make money than just having a turbine sitting on your property,” Bricker said. Some companies will pay landowners to prevent someone from building in a wind channel, he said.
Landowners should not believe a wind farm representative who claims “it’s now or never” to sign a lease, Bricker said. Landowners should consult an attorney, Emmanuel said.
Landowners should also unite, because there is strength in numbers — and a wind farm needs a “critical mass” of about 4,000 adjacent acres for maximal fiscal impact.
“It takes that critical mass of land and people signing with one developer” to produce the most bang for the breeze, Bricker said.
Benton County land values have gone up $1,000 an acre since wind became a harvestable crop there, Bricker said. “People want to make money from them.”
Some studies have found neither positive nor negative effects on land value, Emmanuel said.
“Some people think they’re cool,” he said, “and will actually move toward the wind.”
