By John Weiss

Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN 

WINONA -- The wind is free but the hot topic now in southeastern Minnesota is who will profit from the electricity that's harnessed from it.

Some would like to see more small towns or local groups build their own wind turbines not only to create electricity but also to generate more economic energy for rural areas.

They don't want to see large corporations come into the region, build small forests of turbines, pay landowners to use their land and then take much of the profit out of the region.

Winona County is leading a study to find ways for small towns or even individuals to set up their own turbines to capture that energy and economic stimulus, said Ann Morse, who works with Winona County Environmental Services.

The county has been working for about three years to develop its own turbine, in part to find a model that others can use to keep profits local. The effort is part of Sustain Winona, which is made up of six governmental institutions dedicated to saving energy.

The traditional way to make money with wind is to have enough income that can be used for wind-energy tax credits, Morse said. The average person doesn't have enough income to make use of those credits so that person can be left out in the cold.

The traditional way to make money with wind is to have enough income that can be used for wind-energy tax credits, Morse said. The average person doesn't have enough income to make use of those credits so that person can be left out in the cold.

"Most of the gain accrues to people outside our community," Morse said.

What Morse's group wants to develop is a community wind model that would allow people to successfully put up a turbine or two without government help or tax credits. It's part of Minnesota's Community-Based Economic Development (C-BED) legislation.

Winona County would like to have the first C-BED wind development in the state, Morse said.

"It's all still being developed," she said. "We're in the phase of creating our own mechanism -- that's what's really exciting."

If a private firm does that work, it won't share all the information because the information is proprietary and can be used for continuing projects elsewhere in a competitive market, Morse said. But if the county does it, it will share it. The county has invested about $50,000 so far in developing the system and working to get the power onto the electric grid.

The plan is to put up two 1-megawatt wind turbines on a blufftop near Altura, she said, and to have them in place this year. Altura is about 33 miles east of Rochester.

While the county doesn't have the wind resources of Dodge or Mower counties, or those further west in Minnesota, it has about 50 sites where the 1-megawatt turbines should work, she said. Most of those sites would be along Interstate 90.

Linda Grover, head of Winona County's Economic Development Authority, said her group is involved because finding alternative energy sources is one of the group's priorities. It's not traditional, but it makes sense.

Having wind turbines owned locally means more local tax base, more jobs and more money staying local, Grover said.

Some towns such as St. Charles have their own municipal electrical systems and could produce that energy or buy it and keep rates down, she said.

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