One of the country's top oil, gas and coal producing states embraces renewable energy.

States are not waiting for Washington D.C. to move forward to create the clean energy economy. Last month New Mexico became the 3rd state, after Hawaii and California, to pass a bill requiring all electricity from public utilities to come from renewable energy sources. The bill passed both the NM House and Senate, then the Governor signed the bill.

The New Mexico State Association of Commerce and Industry (NMACI) supported the legislation. Rob Black, President and CEO of NMACI understands the economic need to transition the state to renewable energy while also protecting the workers in one of the nation’s major coal plants which is slated to close by 2022.

“The business community worked closely on the bill with legislators, utilities, labor, and local communities to balance the challenges and opportunities for our energy producing state to catalyze economic growth so that New Mexico leads the country in the 21st Century,” said Black. “It is a strategic balancing act for our state and we are heading in the right direction.”

To compensate for the loss of coal revenue, the bill sends $40 million to regions expected to lose coal production while also requiring that significant renewable energy generating capacity be built there.

“Public Utility Company of New Mexico (PNM) is ready to do our part by investing in a renewable energy infrastructure and leading-edge technologies to put New Mexico at the forefront of the inevitable global transition to sustainable energy”, said PNM President Pat Vincent-Collawn.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham advocated for the legislation and signed it on March 22. After the bill passed the House, Gov. Lujan Grisham released the following statement: 

“When we were presented the chance to move toward cleaner sources of energy, we took it, boldly charting a course to a carbon-free future, permanently centering our commitment to lower emissions and setting an example for other states. Crucially, this legislation does not leave our neighbors in San Juan County behind, as we will provide millions for trainings and economic development.”

For more information see:

NM Sends 100% Renewable Energy Bill to Governor      

New Mexico 100% Renewable Energy

Wind Tour with Toledo Blade, Ohio Governor's Office, Local Chamber, County Officials and More

A perfect, windy day to see a turbine up-close at EDP Renewables Timber Roads II in Paulding County.

From the top:

Jerry Zielke, Paulding County Economic Development Inc. Director;

LuAnne Cook, Office of the Governor NW Regional Liaison;

Mikayla Pieper, Paulding Chamber of Commerce Executive Director;

Erin Bowser, EDP Renewables;

Susan Munroe, Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy.

How much can clean energy development grow a region's economy? Quite a lot, as a Toledo Blade newspaper reporter and the Ohio Governor's regional representative got to find out in a day-long tour earlier this month by the Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy in partnership with the Paulding Chamber of Commerce, school district superintendents, and economic development officials.

The day-long tour spotlighted a region of Ohio where several wind farms are already constructed and have been operating for several years. It provided a close look at how economic activity from wind power reaches far beyond the boundaries of wind farms into businesses, school districts, local governments, and community philanthropies. The wind farms benefit communities throughout Ohio that are located along the wind supply chain.

One of the most intriguing stops during the tour for Toledo Blade Reporter, Tom Henry, was an up-close look at Vantage's Nacelle Wind Power Generator Simulator.

"One of the highlights of the visit there was an $80,000, micro-sized wind turbine simulator that could help train future operators, or at least whet their appetites for mechanical science and physics," says Henry. The technician training program is right on time - since one of the top new jobs in the county is a wind turbine technician with an average salary of $54.360 according to U.S. Department of Labor Statistics. 

Vantage Career Center offers a job training pathway for wind turbine technicians, a top job opportunity in the country with an average salary of $54,360

Another highlight of the tour included a visit to the new $4.5 million community center built by the Lincolnview School District with revenue from wind investments. Lincolnview is receiving $400,000 annually for 20 years from wind revenue. Superintendent Jeff  Snyder noted that these steady payments allow the school district to plan for the long-term and to fund ambitious projects like the community center.

Lincolnview School District Community Center; built with revenue from wind investments.

In between stops, the tour also highlighted businesses receiving spin-off economic activity from wind farm construction and maintenance--including a hotel, cement plan, auto dealership, trucking company, and more.

See the Toledo Blade story and video here. 

Ohio’s “Heartland” Chamber Applauds New $300 Million Wind Project

When Amazon announced last month that it would build a second wind farm in northwest Ohio, Jon Cross, president and CEO of the Hardin County Chamber & Business Alliance and Director of Economic Development, eloquently put the opportunity in perspective:

Big projects don’t “always have to happen in big cities,” Cross said. “They can happen in small communities like ours, courthouse communities that are an important engine of Ohio’s economy.”

The new wind farm, which is expected to become operational in late 2017, represents an estimated $300 million investment for Hardin County. It will also lead to a significant boost in local tax revenue for Hardin’s nine communities and its schools, said Cross.

“We’re waking up absolutely excited that Amazon will be indirectly a part of Hardin County.” – Jon Cross, president & CEO, Hardin County Chamber & Business Alliance and Director of Economic Development.

Located 60 minutes from Columbus and Toledo, the Hardin County wind farm will be Amazon’s second in Ohio and fourth in the nation. Learn more in The Columbus Dispatch.

Amazon’s first is going up in nearby Paulding County, where the $175 to 200 million investment is also good news for the Paulding Chamber’s Executive Director Peggy Emerson.

Speaking in a recent video, Emerson said: “Paulding Chamber of Commerce is thrilled to celebrate all of the renewable energy projects that we have going on. These are great ways for us to develop the economic benefits locally, and not only in our county, but the counties around us as well.”

Neighboring Van Wert County has experienced similar successes with Iberdrola’s Blue Creek Wind Farm, which began operation in 2012 and delivers $2 million a year in new revenue for schools and a steady stream of income for farmers.

Chamber CEO Peggy Emerson Speaks Out about Amazon Wind Farm

Ask Peggy Emerson, Executive Director of the Paulding Chamber of Commerce, what she thinks of the new Amazon wind farm going up in her county, and she’ll tell you:

“Paulding Chamber of Commerce is thrilled to celebrate all of the renewable energy projects that we have going on. These are great ways for us to develop the economic benefits locally, and not only in our county, but the counties around us as well.”

That’s how she put it in a video recently released by Amazon about the project that is now going up in Paulding County and expected to begin operations in May 2017.

Her enthusiasm about wind energy comes for a good reason: The Amazon Wind Farm is estimated to reflect an investment of $175 to $200 million a year in this small northwest Ohio community.

Said Paulding County Commissioner Roy Klopfenstein: “On a county level, we’ve been able to give our employees raises, the school systems have been able to add instructors, and after construction, I know of no township road that isn’t in better condition after they’ve left.”

Neighboring Van Wert County has experienced similar successes with Iberdrola’s Blue Creek Wind Farm, which began commercial operation in 2012 and delivers $2 million a year in new revenue for schools and a steady stream of income for farmers.

Van Wert Area Chamber CEO Susan Munroe has called wind a “cash crop” that reliably pays year after year.

Amazon is also planning wind farms in North Carolina and Indiana. Watch the video about the Paulding County project here: https://youtu.be/hoi4YTNBz1k.

Wind Farm Tours in Caro, MI Drive Visitors

The Caro Chamber of Commerce says that its hometown of Caro, Michigan, has a “Norman Rockwell feel with modern amenities.” Among some of the most modern of those amenities are the turbines from nearby wind farms that are steadily transforming the region.

Those wind farms have also led to many questions from nearby residents, so many in fact that Brenda Caruthers, Executive Director of the Caro Chamber enthusiastically agreed when Consumers Energy, the state’s largest utility, proposed that the chamber host a series of tours of the new Crosswinds Energy Park that is nearing completion.

Caro is the second chamber in Michigan to help its community better understand wind farms through public tours. (The first chamber to host public tours – the Ludington & Scottville Area Chamber of Commerce in western Michigan— also partnered with Consumers Energy).

More than 300 people took the Caro tours. More than half of those people, Caruthers said, came to Caro specifically for the tours. “We’re a rural area,” she said. “We’re not a tourist area and that’s a huge number of visitors for us.”

The tours started at the chamber’s office – also a benefit for the chamber, Caruthers noted, because it can be difficult to get direct traffic to the chamber’s building – where a video about the wind farm was shown. A chamber member with a tour bus company then took the visitors to the wind farm, which has 62 turbines that will generate 105 megawatts of power enough to supply electricity for 31,000 homes.

For the first month, Caruthers personally greeted the wind farm visitors and, of course, took the tour herself. “Most of us had already seen the wind towers because they are so close to us,” she said. “But the size is so impressive. The plans that had to be developed and everything else that goes into these wind farms is just mind boggling to me and many others.”

The chamber also surveyed people returning from the tours, asking if their position on wind power had changed. More than 60 percent of respondents said they were more inclined to support wind generation. All in all, Caruthers said, the wind farm tours were a “very positive experience” for the chamber and for Consumers Energy, a major chamber member.

Local Michigan Chamber Scores Triple Success By Organizing Tours of New Wind Park

The Ludington & Scottville Area Chamber of Commerce in Michigan has scored a rare triple victory: it helped launch and grow a new business that educates its community on an important economic development project while generating new tourism spending. And it has done so on the topic of energy generation, typically not a topic that draws crowds.

What is generating all this interest? Kathy Maclean, Executive Director of the Ludington chamber, reports that a new wind energy park has become an extraordinary tourist draw. Working with Consumers Energy, which opened the 56-turbine Lake Winds Energy Park in 2012, the chamber organized tours of the wind farm. The tours start at the chamber office, where visitors watch a 30-minute educational video about wind energy and the construction of wind farms. After the video, visitors take a one-hour bus tour of the 100 megawatt wind park in Michigan’s Mason County.

In 2012, when the tours began, Maclean says that demand was so strong that the chamber expanded the number of available seats but still ended up turning away visitors. The tours continued to be such a huge draw that eventually the chamber spun off the work to a local bus company and tour operator. Consumers Energy initially helped to underwrite the costs of the tours, but this year visitors are charged a nominal fee with no noticeable decrease in enthusiasm.

Maclean says the tours have generated tourism and commerce for the Ludington area and raised visibility for the wind farm. Her community is not alone; according to CleanEnergy.org, wind turbines across the country – and throughout the world — have become tourist attractions.

The Ludington & Scottville Area Chamber can be found online here. A website about the Lake Winds Energy Park is here. A short video from Consumers Energy about the construction of the energy park is here. The article from CleanEnergy.org about energy tourism can be found here.