Community-Owned wind in your town?

Hull's 1st wind turbine is owned by the Town. Hull has the good fortune to have a long-standing municipal light department, which serves as the local electric supplier. Your community has several options if there isn't a locally-owned electric utility.

The starting point is wind speed measurement. An airport or a wind map is your first reference, but a measurement for a year above the trees and other obstacles will be required to calculated the true economic viability: More about economics.

A town or school can own a wind turbine and sell the surplus power in a few different ways. Mike Jacobs (mike_windpower@yahoo.com) has some suggestions: More about owning a Turbine.

Wind Co-ops are successful in Europe and now in Ontario, in part because the legal systems support creating new co-ops. Wind turbines are now owned in the U.S. by existing co-ops.

Wind Co-ops are successful in Europe
http://www.chelseagreen.com/Wind/articles/NEurope96.htm

Wind Co-ops are successful in Ontario
http://www.windshare.ca/
http://www.ontario-sea.org

Wind Co-ops are successful in the U.S.
http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/public_power_coops.asp
http://www.ourwind.org/