Wind Energy Information for American Farmers and Ranchers

Wind is a renewable energy source that is clean, reliable, and largely untapped in the U.S.

This site provides general information about wind power as it applies to agribusiness and to rural homes.

Whereas densely-populated urban areas consume large amounts of electrical power, rural and agricultural open lands have the potential to generate all their electrical needs and more from renewable sources such as wind and solar.

Find out how much wind energy you can produce on your land, and how much modern wind technology can add to the bottom line of your agribusiness.

Wind-power systems can have a very favorable ROI depending on various factors:

• the amount of wind in your area
• your current electrical power costs (and future costs)
• your ability to sell excess power
• insurance costs
• financing costs
• federal, state, and other incentives

How much electricity is in the wind?

The maximum amount of energy that can be produced from wind is a mathematical function of the wind speed. Actually, it's a function of the cube of the wind speed. This is a very important fact, because it means that there is much more power in a gusty wind that averages 10 mph than there is in a steady breeze that averages 10 mph.

What does that mean to you? It means that you should not trust statistics. The flatter your area, the less variable the conditions will be from place to place.

Limiting factors

There are several factors which put a physical and practical limit the amount of electricity that you can expect to produce from the wind. Among them are:

• wind turbulence due to nearby obstacles
• the efficiency of the turbine
  • the "sail" or "propeller" design
  • the efficiency of the generator
  • the start-up speed of the turbine - all turbines have a "cut-in speed" which is the wind speed required to get the turbine spinning
  • the ability of the turbine to handle turbulence - some turbine designs are particularly good at capturing energy in gusty or variable conditions
• maximum wind speed capacity - some turbines are designed to be self-regulating, or to stop spinning in dangerous storm conditions
• power losses due to
  • conversion (i.e. DC to AC) and conditioning
  • transmission - the longer the distance, the greater the loss
  • storage - All storage systems are less than 100% efficient. Batteries naturally lose a portion of their power over time.

How tall should your wind turbine be?

Wind is typically slower close to the ground: the most powerful wind is higher-up. Generally the higher you go, the stronger the wind... and the stronger the forces acting on the turbine and tower. Larger turbines require very strong towers. And with the cost of steel so high, large towers get very expensive. But their superior efficiency and their access to better wind conditions allows very large wind turbines to generate electricity at extremely low cost.