By Dan Clunies, Harmony Energy Solutions
We kicked off an exciting farm show season at the Aug. 6-8 Minnesota Farmfest in Morgan, Minnesota. This is one of the largest farm shows in Minnesota, a key state for distributed wind development with its vast wind resources and favorable net-metering policies.
Farm shows are windows to see straight into the heart of America’s breadbasket. All types of people walked the show among booths selling drone spraying services, manure treatment cocktails, million-dollar tractors, or even wind turbines! Dust from the crowds collected on shiny dairy trailers as children, retirees and trinket-seekers shuffled through show. Some stopped to glance at our booth, which offered a free wind assessment (shout out to AgWind!) to check the feasibility of a distributed wind turbine for their location. Some were intrigued, and keen to learn about a second income stream or relief from thousand-dollar power bills for their dairy farms. Others were critical “drill, baby, drill” shouted one refinery worker as he walked by. “Wind and Solar are not the answer” read several yard signs from a conservative Minnesotan think tank just a few booths away.
While the positive conversations outweighed the critical, these interactions gave the author pause to consider the stark contrast to the friendly, fact-driven technology development community fostered by DOE, DWEA and their members. Here at the farm show, the boots ground are not as supportive. They seem disinformed and dug-in. Still, we need to meet these people where they are! There are objections to be overcome, political and otherwise, as DW deployment expands throughout the wind belt.
These challenges, some nearly cliches, are being met head-on by programs like PNNL’s Strategize, Engage, Network Deploy (SEND) project or USDA’s Rural and Agricultural Income & Savings from Renewable Energy (RAISE) initiative. Those programs and your continued support in overcoming the disinformation that spreads among the distributed wind prospects will prevail! So go ahead, send in the cows. (Don’t bother, they’re here.)