Farmers Tap Wind, Solar Energy.
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February 18, 2001
Farmers Tap Wind, Solar Energy
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:02 p.m. ET
DENVER (AP) -- The windmills scattered throughout the rolling hills and
grassy expanses of the Great Plains are proof that farmers and ranchers were
some of the original users of renewable energy.
That changed when government-backed rural electric associations began
extending utility lines to outlying areas in the 1930s. Wind-driven turbines that
powered water pumps and farmhouse appliances were phased out.
Many of the old windmills still stand, however, and farmers and ranchers are
looking to the past to combat the growing cost of natural gas and stringing
power lines to rural areas.
``Back years ago, when I was a kid, we had wind chargers then, and
batteries. Then the REA came in,'' said Jim Simon, who grows wheat and
corn near Marienthal, Kan.
It's back to the future for Simon, who halved his electric bill by installing a
100-foot-tall wind turbine to generate electricity for his workshop. ``Some
places the wind doesn't blow, but out in southwestern Kansas, it always
blows,'' he said.
The new turbines are sleek, high-tech structures that look like giant,
stripped-down pinwheels.
Ron Prettyman examined a small turbine, bending the pliable carbon-fiber
blades, during a recent National Renewable Energy Laboratory workshop at
the National Western Stock Show in Denver.
A hunting guide from Cleveland, Utah, Prettyman wants to replace his
gas-fueled generator with a combination of wind and solar power at his ranch
and on hunting trips.
``It would cost me about $6,100 to bring an electric line to my place. I figure
for $7,500 I can put in wind and solar and never have to make a payment,''
he said. ``And there's something about being in this country and being
independent that goes hand-in-hand.''
The high cost of electrifying rural areas is boosting interest in renewable
energy among farmers and ranchers, said John Thornton, an engineer at the
National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden.
``And you wonder how many of them are here because of what they read in
the newspapers about California and rising gas prices,'' Thornton said before
starting a two-hour forum at the stock show.
The cattle-auction arena was filled as Thornton and co-workers Byron
Stafford and Trudy Forsyth discussed wind turbines, photovoltaic systems
and kilowatts. About 500 people attended the three stock show forums, for
which the three employees volunteered their time.
Gary Schmitz, spokesman for the national lab, said there are no figures on
the number of farmers and ranchers who use renewable energy. ``I would
think it is relatively small -- small, yet growing,'' he said.
The Golden lab works with companies, other agencies and individuals to
advance renewable energy. Research on using the entire corn plant to make
ethanol underscores the opportunities farmers and ranchers have to be
producers as well as consumers of alternative energy.
``They could use the stalks and leaves, parts that now are just plowed under,''
Schmitz said.
The lab is also working with the Morgan County Rural Electric Association in
northeastern Colorado to install solar-powered water pumps for farmers in
remote areas. Staffer Dale Poe said the REA has set up two solar-powered
well pumps to fill livestock water tanks.
``When a guy comes in with a well a mile off our main line, the cost of
building a new line is too high,'' Poe said.
It would have cost $20,000 to run a utility line to a ranch south of Brush.
The REA paid $5,000 for the solar panels, and the rancher bought the rest of
the equipment.
Damon Struckmeyer's family is thinking about using renewable energy for
wells near Holyoke in northeastern Colorado.
``For the power company to go out there would be prohibitive,'' said
Struckmeyer.
He also wants to see if he can get annual royalties for allowing wind turbines
on his land, as other landowners have.
Forsyth, an engineer specializing in wind power at the energy lab, said cities
and states across the country offer a variety of tax credits and incentives to
install renewable energy systems. Utilities often buy excess power from
consumers with wind and solar energy.
The cost of a renewable energy system is sometimes folded into a mortgage,
Forsyth said.
Simon of southwestern Kansas a got tax break on his $20,000 wind-power
system more than a decade ago. ``If I remember right, it paid for itself in 3
1/2 years.''
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press |
