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Regional Strategies for Wind Power

Participating States/Provinces:  Eastern Montana and Eastern Washington

Length of Project:  2 years

Amount of Award:  $108,000

For more information, please contact , South Central Washington Program Director, The Nature Conservancy

General Significance of Project:

In 2005, the United States led the world in newly installed wind energy capacity (2,431 megawatts (MW)), with over $3 billion invested in generating equipment and enough electricity to power 2.3 million homes..An additional 2,454-MW were installed in 2006, and all indications are for strong and continued emphasis on renewable energy production, of which wind energy will be a major component

Wind facilities are not stand-alone features—they cover vastly more area than the footprint of the turbines, requiring extensive road systems and transmission corridors. In order to meet power generation goals, national wind power development will continue to increase and occur over millions of acres

Wind energy development has progressed with very little science-based policy analysis to examine costs of biodiversity impacts. Further, since wind power projects are proposed individually, cumulative impacts at regional scales are left unaddressed.

To counter better known environmental impacts, some states, such as Washington, have adopted a regulatory framework to review wind projects on an ad-hoc basis, whereas most states, such as Montana, lack any regulation and generally rely on wind energy producers to essentially regulate themselves through suggested guidelines for siting turbines. Industry has, in the past, used contract science to try to demonstrate no or low impact from facilities. Mixed credibility has been given to the results from industry science regarding biodiversity impacts. Regulatory agencies have little ability to provide proactive science guidance on wind power production, and are viewed with suspicion by industry. The Nature Conservancy has the ability to offer an “honest broker” approach to the pressing need for displaying the interactions between wind power production and biodiversity. Industry representatives have stated their interest in knowing, in advance and in more detail than currently available, those areas of highest wind potential that also have the highest biodiversity values.

Goals of Project:

• Produce a first iteration wind power siting blueprint for use by industry, agencies and other consumers that spatially integrates wind potential and risk to focal targets. This product will be designed to:
• Inform siting decisions for eastern Washington and eastern Montana
• Serve as an indicator for potential cumulative impacts of individual wind power proposals
• Be adopted as a tool and approach for export throughout the country

Achievements to Date:

• Probability assessment for wind development (complete)
• Biodiversity impact data is being collected and modeled (in progress)