Wind development can be an attractive revenue option for states that have viable wind resources on their trust lands. Wind can provide much higher revenue per acre than many other sources of typical revenue. An added benefit is that harvesting the wind does not deplete any finite resources.
Several state land offices are already pursuing wind development on state trust lands. The first such wind project, in West Texas, is a joint project by the Texas General Land Office and the Lower Colorado River Authority, a public utility in central Texas.
This Web page outlines the types of assistance Wind Powering America (WPA) provides to states that are interested in wind development and information from state officials currently pursuing such projects. Some of the following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.
Wind Powering America Assistance to State Land Offices
Peer Network
WPA established a peer network for state land officials that holds monthly conference calls. State land officials from over a dozen states are already participating. If you would like to get involved or have some state-land information that you would like to share on this Web site, please contact us.
Analysis of State Land Potential
NREL can assist state land offices in analyzing their trust lands for wind development potential. By overlaying wind resource maps with land use, transmission capacity, and load centers, this type of analysis can help state officials target lands that that warrant further study. NREL has already provided similar analysis for the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the State Land Office in Montana. This service is free to states where wind resource assessment maps are current and verified.
Technical Assistance
The Wind Powering America team is committed to providing or linking state land officials with the appropriate technical resources that they need as they pursue wind development. This includes information about wind technologies, current market experiences, and project development.
Inclusion in Federal Land-Use Study
BLM is updating their land use analyses throughout the West and is offering to include adjacent state trust lands in their analyses without cost. Inclusion in the BLM analyses can provide states with the information they need to determine if wind or other renewable energy development is a viable development option for their trust lands.
Wind Workshop for State Lands
A workshop specifically focused on wind on state lands was held at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, on April 29-30, 2003 . Read the Wind Workshop for State Lands Proceedings.
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