We own some ground in green county IL and we are interested in getting a wind turbine put up. We are more interested in the program that we supply the ground and get paid a yearly lease. We do not have the capital to build one ourselves and I'm not sure how to tell how close we are to transmission lines.

Thanks salbrecht05@msn.com

That's a great question. We actually get it quite a bit. Here is a good way to start out:

The first step in seeing if you can put up a wind project is to determine if you have a wind resource that is good enough to make your project profitable. A quick, cheap and easy way to determine your wind resource is to look at one of National Renewable Energy Laboratories wind resource maps. They can be found at the following link:

NREL Wind Resource Maps

Download the map for your state. Typically a wind resource that is good for a large, utility scale turbine has a Class 4 or higher wind resource. Class 3 wind resources can work for a project but often the economics are tight.

Another indicator that your wind resource might be good is if there are existing wind projects close to your property. Are there wind projects within a few miles of your property and is the topography of your land similar to the land that existing projects are sited on?

If the wind resource map indicates that you might have good wind or their are wind projects close to yours the next step is to talk to neighbors to see if they have been approached by wind developers who want to lease their wind resources.

In Illinois there is a website that posts wind data for wind testing facilities around the state. If there is a meteorological site close to your property (within a few miles) you could use this data to determine if you should invest in a professional wind resource assessment.

Here is a link to the five public wind resource monitoring facilities in Illinois:

Wind resource Monitoring in Illinois

That's probably enough to keep you busy for a little while at least. You can't have a wind project unless you have a good wind resource so figure that out first before doing anything else.

If your wind resource isn't good enough for a large scale turbine you might want to consider a smaller home/farm/business sized turbine, a turbine that offsets a portion or all of your personal or business electricity consumption. Often these smaller turbines can work in lower wind resources. For more information about smaller turbines visit our "Small Turbines" forum. There are several Small Turbine Consumers Guides that are posted there which explain very well the process of installing your own personal turbine:

Small Turbines on TWFN

Please feel free to contact me directly if you have more questions or need more information.

Brian