County Leaders Take Close Look At Wind PowerFOWLER - Just east of Remington, the group spotted them in the distance - rows and rows of towers each with three blades spinning in the wind.
From a distance, it's hard to tell just how tall the towers are. It's easier up close.
"You just can't understand how big they are until you stand right under them and look up," said Area Plan Commission member Tony Etienne, looking up at a wind tower.
The 262-foot towers are in Benton County, near the Illinois border. Etienne was part of a group of 16 Kosciusko County officials and community leaders who made the trip to Benton County Wednesday to get an up-close look at that county's wind farms and talk to some of the people who helped bring them there. JW Great Lakes Wind LLC constructed a wind-testing tower in northern Kosciusko County in December to assess whether this county is a good location for a wind harvesting operation.Kosciusko County Plan Director Dan Richard said Wednesday's trip was to give local leaders a chance to observe and ask questions about an industry that could be on Kosciusko County's horizon.
Benton County is the home of Indiana's only currently-operating commercial wind farms. The county has two wind farms. When complete, the farms will have a combined total of 590 wind turrets and about $1.35 billion in investment from BP Wind Energy North America Inc. and Orion Energy LLC, the companies building the wind harvesting operations.
Fowler is the Benton County seat. Sitting down to lunch in a cafe on Fowler's main street, the Kosciusko County officials spoke with Tim Tabert, president of the Benton County Farm Bureau. Tabert said the wind farms have been popular with the agricultural community. Energy companies pay farmers on whose land they build wind turrets. The two energy companies have signed leases with 370 Benton County landowners. He said the farmers get paid a guaranteed amount for each tower. "Then, there are certain bonus amounts tied to the amount of electricity each tower produces," he said.
Wind towers are installed mostly on farmland. When a tower is installed, the farmer who owns the land can still raise crops right up to the edge of the tower's footprint.
Tabert said the construction phase of a wind farm project is the most disruptive phase. He said while contractors are building a wind tower and installing the infrastructure to transport the energy it produces, anywhere between three and 30 acres of land can be damaged for each turbine. According to Tabert and Berry, the energy companies reimburse farmers for damages to their property and crop losses during the construction.
Berry said the construction phase is initially rough on local roads as heavy equipment is hauled in to construct the towers. However, Berry said, the energy companies make arrangements with the counties and towns in which they work to leave local infrastructure at least in as good condition as it was before the project. Berry said most of the roads in Benton County used during construction are now in better shape than they were before the project.
Kosciusko County Assistant Planner Matt Sandy said the county would need to pay close attention to the arrangements with energy companies concerning the county's roads.
Berry, who, before his recent election as a commissioner, was involved in supporting the establishment of the wind farms, said the individual landowners aren't the only ones who benefit from the towers. He said the county benefits too. The county collects about $10,000 per tower in property taxes from the energy companies and also charged up to $3,400 per tower for building permits and megawatt production fees.
Kosciusko County leaders visited the base of one of the wind towers and a collection station where electricity from the towers is gathered.
Standing under the tower, Kosciusko County Commissioners Ron Truex and Brad Jackson pressed their ears up to the base of the tower. "There is a faint vibration, but you have to be right up against the tower to even hear it," said Truex.
Berry said when the idea of building the wind farms was first discussed, some people were concerned the towers would be loud or be harmful to local wildlife. Berry said, since the towers were built, those concerns have mostly been eased. The towers are silent until a one gets within about 100 feet, then there is the faint swoosh of the 135-foot blades whirling above.
Kosciusko County Farm Bureau President John Goon said he felt Wednesday's trip was worthwhile. He said he went because he wanted to have an idea of how wind harvesting could affect the agricultural community.
"I was interested to see how minimal an impact on farm ground there was," Goon said.
Goon said the damage described during the construction stage could be difficult for farmers. He said the compaction of the soil that takes place when heavy equipment is rolled over it can take up to five years to return to profitability.
But, Goon said, the reimbursement from the energy companies and the benefit after the tower is constructed could more than make up for the initial losses. "From an agricultural point of view, it's added value to a piece of ground with minimum impact," Goon said.
