Wind power is back!

This past week, newly elected governor Janet Mills ended former governor Paul LePage’s ban on wind farms in certain areas of the state. 

As an environmental economist, I am in favor of increased wind power in the state.  Renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, and in certain circumstances, hydropower, will help with our  much needed transition away from fossil-fuel based energy..  Furthermore, wind power provides well-paying jobs in construction in primarily rural areas of the state, as well as property taxes, the potential for income for rural landowners, and other tangible benefits to host communities. 

However, concerns about large-scale wind farm development include potential negative impacts on nearby residents, tourism, and wildlife.  Questions include:

• Do wind farms enhance or detract from tourism? Answer: it depends on the context.  Some studies have found that proposed wind farms affect potential demand for tourism, but those studies are hypothetical, not actual. A recent study in Scotland found that there was no correlation between existing windfarms and tourism-related employment.    Other case studies have shown that wind farms can actually be a boon to tourism, if local tourism agencies market them as a tourist attraction .   More work needs to be done on looking at the effect of actual, operating wind farms on tourism in different contexts.  In any case, the concern about conflicts between wind farms and tourism can be mitigated by proper planning and siting.

• Do wind farms have a significant impact on migratory birds?  The answer here depends on what you consider significant, and again, it depends on the context.  Wind turbines located in migratory corridors have been linked to avian mortality, and those deaths are increasing as wind power generation itself increases.   Still, some studies suggest that wind-power related avian deaths are less than those associated with other forms of energy, and much less than those associated with the average housecat.  However, that does not mean we should brush those concerns away lightly. New technologies in turbine and blade design, as well as proper modeling and siting procedures – as well as simply shutting down generation during peak migration – should mitigate this concern.

• Do wind farms increase or decrease property values or property taxes? Evidence shows that large-scale wind development in residential areas does have a negative impact on homes in direct proximity (much like any other energy-related infrastructure), and that this effect declines as distance to the wind farm increase.  However, properties in rural areas that are host to a turbine can see an increase, as the potential for income from the land is realized https://www.cfra.org/news/180719/are-property-values-affected-wind-farms.  There also is evidence that the added property tax revenue from a wind farm can reduce a town’s overall mil rate.  Again, these concerns can be mitigated by proper planning and siting.        

In other words, evidence abounds on both sides of the debate, and is context-specific. We do need to be cautious about where these facilities are located, from an environmental and aesthetic context. But in the words of Governor Mills: “It is time for Maine to send a positive signal to renewable energy investors and innovators.”

Note:  This blog post is based on a  “Maine Voices” column written by Dr. Bouvier and published in February of 2018 \lsdpri