From a new CERTs-supported effort called EmPowering Kandiyohi to recently installed wind turbines, Willmar is experiencing a flurry of clean energy action.
Over the past 6 months CERTs has been working in partnership with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Kandiyohi Power Cooperative, Willmar Municipal Utilities and UM West Central Regional Partnership, among others, to explore new models to encourage residential energy efficiency and increase investment in solar PV. The effort, now named “EmPowering Kandiyohi: An Energy Self-Reliance Challenge,” is a work in progress, but has demonstrated the creative and innovative ideas that we can advance when we work in partnership and collaboration to meet our clean energy goals.
One of the Empowering Kandiyohi project partners, Willmar Municipal Utilities, was recently the subject of a Washington Post article that references a CERT-staff facilitated EmPowering Kandiyohi meeting. Willmar Municipal Utilities is a good example of community wind at the municipal level. To learn more about their two new wind turbines, please visit http://www.wmu.willmar.mn.us/WTfaqs.htm.
We’re seeing a lot of municipal wind projects in Minnesota, including the Hometown WindPower program through the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (MMPA), a consortium of 11 member cities. Each city is erecting a 165-kilowatt wind turbine. MMPA is also installing another in the Faribault Energy Park that they operate.
While these projects are much smaller than commercial wind farms with megawatt-scale turbines, they demonstrate how local government and public utilities can provide their own clean energy from sustainable resources. Hometown WindPower is a prime example of how Community Wind is being used in small communities to help keep energy costs stable by creating a long-term fixed price for the power, providing a hedge against rising fuel costs, such as coal and natural gas.
