VAN WERT — While Texas and other states lead the way in mixing crops with large wind turbines, one Ohio official says this side of the Buckeye state is poised to compete.
Area residents may begin seeing more than just plants in fields, according to Ohio Farm Bureau Federation Director of Energy Services Dale Arnold. He spoke to area farmers and officials Thursday night at the Van Wert OSU Extension office.
“Western Ohio is seeing a renewed interest in companies taking a look at areas of the state to do energy development. Some companies are large, some are medium-size and some are small but we have identified 17 different energy development companies talking with farmers and offering leasing agreements in Northwest Ohio in the last year,” he said.
The primary reason Western Ohio is of interest is because the two distribution systems on the eastern half of the nation pass through this region. Though the corridor doesn’t have as much wind as other states, it has enough.
“Northwest Ohio has the needed wind resource for utility-scale wind development. There are other states with better wind resources. I call the Dakotas the ‘Saudi Arabia’ of wind because they have wonderful wind resources and so do Kansas and Nebraska. However, we have something they don’t have fully developed and that’s the electric transmission infrastructure. Those transmission towers you see out in the fields connect communities from the Carolinas to Illinois and from the Eastern seaboard to Manitoba. There are two systems and they both pass through Northwest Ohio, so we have these networks and the electricity generated by wind turbines can be put on a transmission grid and transported to a number of utilities, service providers and communities,” he explained.
Basically, this means alternative energy generated in this region can be used by the entire Eastern half of the United States, according to Arnold. He says the process takes several years and has been in the first of three stages.
He says meteorological towers are erected and gather data for up to two years. If a specific site is good for a turbine, companies seek to enter a contract with the respective land owner. A turbine is constructed and can remain in useful condition for a quarter of a century. He also says crops can be grown “right up to the base of the turbine” but the structures are so large, 10 acres of space are needed.
Arnold informed the approximate 75 persons in attendance there is a turbine in Bowling Green that is 391 feet tall. He says residents around it have reported no complaints and say it is no  noisier than a refrigerator. He also says turbines have not caused any noticeable change in property values.
Companies interested in Western Ohio are not looking to construct just one or two turbines.
“They’re looking at small wind-based generation; around 10-15 turbines of 20 megawatt capacity. Some are looking at networking over two or three townships based on Ohio’s topography to do larger numbers of 50-100 megawatts,” Arnold said.
Turbines cannot be too close to the glide path of incoming airplanes. Therefore, they need to be a certain distance from airports, 750 feet from public roads, 400 feet from property lines, 1,000 feet from buildings and there needs to be 800 feet between turbines.
“A cluster of turbines on 300 acres of open land is ideal and more turbines equals a lower cost for each unit,” he said.
Arnold also said the closest turbine manufacturer is in Pennsylvania and the crane needed to erect them is based in Nashville. He said they continually pass through Columbus in the middle of the night, on large trucks with police escort, to other states west of Ohio.
In light of changes in the automotive industry and manufacturing sector, Arnold advocates turning area “blue collar jobs into green collar jobs.” He says producing alternative energy products in Northwest Ohio has already began in Perrysburg, where First Solar manufactures thin film solar panels. He says 90 percent of the nation’s truck traffic east of the Mississippi River passes through the area between Dayton, Columbus and Cincinnati.
“Ohio is second only to California in its capacity to manufacture wind turbine parts,” he said.
Arnold believes the country’s capacity for wind energy is ample enough to produce three times the electricity it currently uses. However, he does not think nuclear and coal-based power production will be replaced due to increasing demand.