The Minnesota Department of Commerce released a new set of wind maps today, including 80 m and 100 m versions.

Go to www.commerce.state.mn.us, then Energy Info Center, Wind Energy, and Wind Maps or follow this link.

Here's an article from the Star Tribune with more information about the new maps and thoughts from the Minnesota Department of Commerce and other wind energy stakeholders:

State's wind power potential is greater than first thought
Tom Meersman, Star Tribune

Minnesota has more wind and more potential to transform it into electricity than previously estimated, state commerce officials said Tuesday. Large areas of northwestern, western and southern Minnesota have higher average wind speeds than the last study indicated in 2002, according to a new report.

Experts have known for decades that the windiest portion of the state is along the Buffalo Ridge in southwestern Minnesota, and most of the state's wind farms are located there. However, the new data show that wind projects are feasible across a much broader, L-shaped swath of the state, according to Mike Bull, assistant commissioner of the state Department of Commerce. "We hope wind projects will be anchors to the rural economy," he said.

Bull compared wind projects' potential to the way that ethanol plants have benefited the rural economy.

Last year the Legislature passed a law to help communities establish their own wind projects so they could retain energy money that otherwise would go elsewhere. Gov. Tim Pawlenty set a goal of 800 megawatts of new community-based wind energy by 2010, Bull said. Projects might range from a single wind machine at a school or city to an intercounty network of dozens of wind generators in southern Minnesota with lines connecting to the Twin Cities, he said.

A one-megawatt wind machine can typically power about 330 average homes in Minnesota, said John Dunlop, senior outreach representative for the American Wind Energy Association. He called the new study a "quantum leap in science." In 1982, when Dunlop worked on the first wind maps as a state employee, he said, the calculations were based on a few measurements atop 30-meter towers and extrapolated across the state. The latest study, done under contract by WindLogics Inc. of St. Paul for $205,000, used data and modeling to represent the three-dimensional nature of the atmosphere. "That means you can predict quite reliably the wind potential in areas where we don't even have wind resource monitoring stations, such as northwestern Minnesota," Dunlop said.

Besides more sophisticated computers, another reason that the average wind speeds are higher than former estimates is that modelers measured the speeds at 80 meters, or 262 feet, rather than the previous height of 70 meters. "We needed to keep up with industry," said Jeffrey Haase, a Commerce Department energy engineer. Wind turbines are now larger and are typically installed 80 meters above the ground, he said, and wind speeds at that height are greater.

In addition to average yearly wind speeds, the new maps also show how winds change on a monthly basis.

Average wind speeds in northwestern Minnesota are highest during October, whereas in the south of the state they are strongest in March and April. The least windy month for the entire state appears to be August.

Tom Meersman • 612-673-7388

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/217905.html