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EUGENE, Oregon, US, March 29, 2006 (Refocus
Weekly)
Development of wind energy facilities in rural
areas of the United States has less benefits for small communities
than nearby larger communities, according to an analysis prepared
for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
“Small communities with few large industries see greater leakage
of revenue into nearby towns that provide more services,” concludes
Meghan Pedden in ‘Economic Impacts of Wind Applications in Rural
Communities; June 2004 - January 2005.’ “These small communities
therefore experience less indirect and induced impact of a wind
installation than a larger community with the ability to provide a
greater number of services.”
The 54-page report analyzed studies on the economic impact of
windfarms in rural communities and then compared the studies in a
spreadsheet. The database “allows a greater understanding of the
type of information gathered in an economic impact study, the type
of information that is most helpful in using these studies to
promote wind energy development in rural communities, and the
limitations on collecting data for these studies.”
Most of the 13 studies were compiled from Internet searches, and
assessed on project size and number of turbines, geographic
location, area of impact considered, turbine ownership, and whether
the study was based on predictions for a prospective wind
installation, actual data for an existing wind installation or the
estimated impact of installing a set amount of wind energy. The
study examined direct, indirect, induced and total number of jobs
created throughout the geographic scope of the windfarm, and the
income and taxes created by the facility.
It did not include some notable industry studies, such as the ‘Wind
Force 12' report from the European Wind Energy Association and
Greenpeace.
“Wind installations create a large direct impact on the economies of
rural communities, especially those with few supporting industries,”
the report concludes, while noting the difficulty of drawing
specific conclusions about the positive impact of windfarms due to
the broad cross-section of data available from each study. “In
communities in which farming is the only large industry, the
installation of windfarms creates another industry that becomes a
large percentage of the local tax base and contributes to local
businesses.”
The number of local construction and operations jobs created depends
on the skills available in the local community, and many developers
try to hire local labour but must bring in construction companies
and operators from outside the county or outside the state when this
is not possible. Some local governments offer incentives to
developers in return for the developer agreeing to hire local labour.
“When compared to fossil fuel development, the development of
renewable energy creates a larger impact on the economy,” it
concludes, largely because the additional income earned by local
workers in the renewable energy industry “more than makes up for the
cost increase required to invest in renewable energy.”
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