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The Southwest Regional Development Commission in Minnesota encourages the development of renewable energy by facilitating and providing staff for the Rural Minnesota Energy Board, a joint powers board of the nine counties in the southwest region and six additional counties. SRDC Executive Director Jay Trusty describes, "The interest in renewable energy in our region began with a geographic feature called Buffalo Ridge. Here on the eastern edge of the prairie, the wind blows all the time. With wind turbines placed on the ridge, there is enough wind to make them cost effective and produce a lot of renewable energy."

Annette Bair, Southwest's Physical Development Director, estimated in 2004 there were over 800 turbines either developed or in the planning process, which could produce 778 megawatts of wind power. The region's renewable energy movement has been so successful in making enough wind-generated electricity available that southwest Minnesota has become a net-exporter of energy. And the movement has not stopped there. Throughout the region, developers are constructing energy-independent buildings, which run on wind or solar energy without needing to connect to the main power grid. They are also pursuing bio-fuel development from the region's agricultural assets.

The Rural Minnesota Energy Board also supports biodiesel and ethanol production, using locally grown soybeans and corn to produce the renewable fuels. Minnesota is one of a handful of states that mandates the use of renewable fuels, so that all drivers use a fuel containing ten percent ethanol or two percent biodiesel. Using biofuels benefits grain producers in the southwest area. Trusty explains, "I've read one study that said that having a soy biodiesel facility in this region raised the price of soybeans about a nickel a bushel, which is a significant increase in the price that farmers are getting. The farmers are really the economic drivers in our economy."

Bair adds, "Because our region is very rural, our economy is agriculture-based. But we also have value-added production for agricultural commodities in the two ethanol and five biodiesel plants. There is also constant growth in wind-based electricity. Any time you can diversify, it makes your economy stronger. And when you have people in the region owning all or even a part of the turbines, the local investment in power enhances economic viability of the area. It also makes our region and the nation less dependent on foreign energy sources."

Expanding the production of renewable energy also diversifies the economic base and provides for a variety of job opportunities. "We suffer from a lot of out-migration because there just aren't many jobs available in the region. But renewable energy creates manufacturing jobs in biodiesel and ethanol production, and a company just broke ground on a facility to make wind turbines. It also requires an educated workforce, so now there are more chemistry, chemical engineering and metallurgy jobs coming back to the region," Trusty says.

East River Electric Power Cooperative, which serves 20 local cooperatives in eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota, has invested in renewable energy and provided economic benefit to its local jurisdictions for about the past five years. Scott Parsley, the Assistant General Manager of Member Services, says, "We surveyed our customers, and they strongly encouraged us to move toward renewable sources of energy, particularly wind."

To serve the consumers' interest, East River and the regional Basin Electric Cooperative, of which East River is a member, have installed or contracted for about 136 megawatts of wind-generated electricity, or eight percent of its supply. In addition to being a clean source of power, constructing the turbines is beneficial to landowners and local governments. "Landowners receive a payment for having the turbines on their property. If you have three or four wind turbines, you can do fairly well. You can still graze or farm right around the turbine, so you're not losing the use of much land. Wind farms are good for the counties, too. One of the counties with a wind farm used to have a total tax revenue of under $1 million. Now they've added about another quarter of a million to their tax revenue with just one wind farm," says Parsley.

Southwest Regional Development Commission 2401 Broadway Ave., Ste. 1 Slayton, MN 56172-1142 Tel: 507.836.8547 Fax: 507.836.8866 http://www.swrdc.org

East River Electric Power Cooperative 121 SE First St., P.O. Box 227 Madison, SD 57042 Tel: 605.256.8015 Fax: 605.256.8057 http://www.eastriver.coop/