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Wind
Power for the Landowner: A Workshop Providing Technical
Assistance to Residents of Rural Oregon
In the fall of 2008, Northwest
SEED brought together nearly 150 rural landowners
and wind professionals to discuss wind development
in rural Oregon. Northwest SEED and partners, Oregon
Department of Energy, Energy Trust of Oregon and 3TIER,
conducted workshops in Hood River, Moro, Pendleton
and Baker City. Local utilities, legal professionals
and county planners also presented on topics including
negotiating contracts and permitting.
The workshop participants learned about
how they could best participate in wind development
whether that be installing a backyard turbine to meet
their home or farm’s energy needs, leasing their
land to a developer or organizing their own community
wind project. The basics of wind technology, project
management, financing, resource assessment and siting
as well as leasing land to developers were some of
the topics covered.
Regardless of the scale of development,
a common theme frequently arose in workshop presentations
and discussions: the necessity of talking to your
neighbors and organizing your community to make sure
such projects have positive impacts on the rural communities
they affect. “What many people don’t realize
is a contract is not confidential until it is signed.
Neighbors should talk to each other and collectively
negotiate the best lease terms possible,” advised
Jessica Raker, Project Manager at Northwest SEED.
While communities in Oregon are just beginning to
realize the importance of sharing information about
proposed wind developments, communities in other wind
abundant states are well on their way to collaborating
for a mutually beneficial wind future. Read
an article about how communities in Wyoming are organizing.
Workshop
Presentations:
Wind
Introduction
Project
Management
Resource
Assessment
Oregon
Public Policy
Interconnection
ODOE
Incentives
USDA
Incentives
Financing
Resources
Thank you to all of our partners and those who
participated in our wind workshops including our sponsors:
the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Oregon Rural
Development, Energy Trust of Oregon, the Oregon Department
of Energy, and 3TIER.
For more information about how
wind development can support rural communities, visit
these informative websites:
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