A few years ago it seemed as if mammoth wind turbines were growing more rapidly across the Midwest than corn and soybeans. It was hard to drive any distance without seeing a new “wind-farm” springing up, or at the very least see a semi on the interstate hauling one of the massive blades to its new destination. However, a recent article in the Des Moines Register (Wind Industry Slumps Nationally) discusses the slowdown that the wind energy industry is currently experiencing. According to the article, the amount of megawatts added decreased 71% form this time last year.
How does this affect farmland owners? Well, for every one of those turbines that rises up out of the cornfield, the landowner receives an annual payment from the energy company for the leasing of his/her property where the turbine sits. Leases vary from company to company (and site to site), but the landowner will normally make much more off leasing a few acres to the energy company than he/she would for the crop the turbine is replacing. So a decline in activity out of the wind companies trickles down in less production and fewer leases available to landowners.
As our nation, and the world, continues to seek out alternative energy sources it will be interesting to see what role wind energy plays. Will the industry pick up steam again, or is the lull that they are experiencing going to set in for the foreseeable future? Definitely something to watch.
