Curse of the Wind Turns to Farmers' Blessing

By DOUGLAS JEHL

All of a sudden, though, the Schardins and others who have ended up trying to eke out a living in some of America's windiest parts have found themselves feeling pretty lucky that their forefathers staked out land exactly where they did.

That blasted wind, it turns out, was worth something after all. In a boom that seemed unimaginable a few years ago, it has become the nation's fastest-growing source of electricity, with capacity expected to double in the next 13 months. And as utility companies race to line up new supplies, farmers like Conrad Schardin are counting crisp cash in their pockets and eyeing the sleek windmills known as turbines in their fields.

"Basically, they're paying me to let the wind blow," said Mr. Schardin, 38, who has found that selling wind rights to his great-grandfather's homestead can earn him a lot more than annual crops of corn and beans.

Turning wind into power is nothing new, of course. Windmills were common in the Midwest until the arrival of rural electrification, and commercial wind farms have contributed to California's electricity supply since 1981, as part of the response to successive energy crises.

But what is now under way, most experts say, is a transformation on a much larger scale. With the development of bigger, more sophisticated turbines, the cost of wind-generated electricity, once seen as prohibitive, is now nearly competitive with that of its rivals, all but eliminating what was once a major barrier. 

Around the world, wind generation of electricity expanded by 39 percent in 1999 alone. In Denmark, wind already supplies 10 percent of the country's electricity, while in Germany's northernmost state, Schleswig-Holstein, it supplies some 14 percent of all electricity.

For now, wind still generates far less than 1 percent of the nation's electricity, with the bulk of the projects in California. But across the country, wind is increasingly being regarded by utility companies as worthy of a larger role as the utilities struggle to meet soaring electrical demands at a time when oil and gas prices are steep and volatile.

By the end of next year, the Energy Department projects, some 4,600 megawatts of wind power generation will be in place, enough to provide for 1.7 million households. That would be an increase from 2,500 megawatts today. Both Vice President Al Gore and Gov. George W. Bush of Texas support tax incentives to promote the use of wind over the more polluting fuels, so most experts believe that no matter who ends up in the White House, the trend is unlikely to wane.

"My belief is the current boom will continue," said Charles Lindemann, director of energy supply policy at the Edison Electric Institute, an arm of the utility industry.

This is giving rise to bold new dreams in places like Lake Benton; Storm Lake, Iowa; and Pecos County, Tex., which are or soon will be home to some of the biggest wind farms in the world.

With several large projects scheduled to be completed next year, Texas, best known for oil and gas, is now expected to be the next center of wind power development. Ranchers and farmers better accustomed to being paid for what lies under the ground are being offered royalties for what blows across it.