Yesterday the South Bend Tribune covered an announcement by Indiana Michigan Power to explore wind energy sites in east-central Indiana:

I&M announced Wednesday that it would place meteorological test sites in east-central Indiana to explore the economic and technical feasibility of building a wind farm in the area.

A specific test site has not been selected in east-central Indiana, Mayne said. East-central Indiana includes areas such as Jay, Randolph and Wayne counties.

I&M will locate two or three 200-foot towers that will collect long-term wind data to determine the profile of wind resources in the area.

The towers will have instruments that can measure wind speed and the consistency of the wind in the area. The company will analyze whether there is sufficient wind to generate electricity economically.

This announcement comes on the heals heels of two others [1] [2] by companies planning wind farms in Benton and Allen counties. I learned through a conversation with Phil Seybold, local owner of a green building company and consultant with CEC, that RP&L has sponsored a meteorological study of wind in northern Wayne county by placing wind measuring equipment on the Kicks96 towers on Tingler Rd. This is great news. The genie is out of the bottle. Will this push Indiana lawmakers to enact a Renewable Energy Portfolio? Who knows, but the prospect of hundreds of millions of dollars in wind energy investment should get their attention. The road map for these companies to develop wind project seems to be:

• Find some investors
• Identify potential wind sites
• Petition the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission
• Meet with landowners to negotiate terms for building testing towers
• Build towers with wind measurement equipment and monitor data for a year or two
• Analyze the data
• If the wind speed and power density are sufficient sign a long-term contract with a power company to purchase the power generated
• Petition the county government for tax abatements
• Erect 50-75 1.5MW turbines at a cost of $2-3M apiece
• Collect 1.9 cents per kWh subsidy from the Federal government
• Sell the power to people

Is this accurate? I don’t know. I do know that local government should take notice. There are lots of good reasons to support projects like these. Climate change happens to be #1 on my list. Others include the potential for economic development and offsetting rising energy costs. There is real possibility here to invest in a better future.