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Northwest Sustainable Energy for Economic
Development (NW SEED) conducted substantial research, outreach and
rural organizing efforts to support NREL’s goal of building
rural economies by offsetting irrigation loads with wind
power. By building relationships with key stakeholders in the
agricultural sector, determining the irrigation load profiles
for the region, developing a wind-irrigation calculator, and
organizing wind-irrigation workshops in the Pacific Northwest,
they demonstrated that farm-based wind turbines producing
power to meet local irrigation loads are feasible and
cost-effective.
The
initial phase of the project consisted of data collection,
including research on installed turbine costs, wind resources,
irrigation load profiles, electricity rate structures,
net-metering rules, irrigation market research and financing
terms. This research formed the basis for adapting Tom
Wind’s wind calculator to irrigators in Idaho, Oregon and
Washington. NW SEED assisted irrigators in
exercising NREL’s Wind Powering Irrigation Calculator to
evaluate the costs and benefits of wind generation by
providing cost flow analysis of various wind irrigation
scenarios. Additionally, they were able to target irrigated
areas that are specifically suited for wind turbines by
overlaying the location of irrigated land with wind resources.
At
more than a dozen forums, conferences and workshops across
Idaho, Oregon and Washington NW SEED educated farmers, county planning officials, and others on the
potential for wind power and its ability to enhance the
economic viability of farming practices. Through their outreach
efforts they were able to identify numerous institutions in
WA, OR and ID that serve irrigators. Additionally, they identified dozens of individuals who are seriously interested
in installing small wind turbines to offset irrigation loads.
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