In September, when some farmers and homeowners in St. Joseph County in north-central Indiana received letters from German-based UKA Group about the company’s interest in developing a new wind farm, it wasn’t necessarily welcome news. A handful of the letter recipients took to social media to state their opposition. But for the western edge of neighboring state Ohio, wind has provided a significant economic boost for small communities.
Although Paulding County Ohio is home to fewer than 19,000 residents, it also boasts three utility-scale wind farms, and one-and-a-half solar farms. (Blue Creek Wind Farm spans both Paulding and Van Wert County.)
Each year from 2015-2020, the county saw roughly $2.5 million in “pilot payments,” pre-tax investments the county negotiated with Timber Road Wind Farm to be paid prior to the project’s completion. (More money was to be paid out once all of the turbines came online.) In 2020, Jerry Zielke, then Paulding County’s economic development director, told Ohio reporter Rod Hissong the new wind farm has been “a really really great opportunity for us and our community financially and it really has helped our economy here in Paulding County.”
Local media chronicled the process, explaining how the money generated was spent, invested, and shared in a variety of ways – including $120,000 in annual scholarships for local students.
Wayne Trace schools were an obvious beneficiary. According to the Spectrum article, “Wayne Trace Superintendent Ben Winans said since the school started receiving wind farm money in 2013 they’ve hired 18 new teachers. ” Winans also noted that the GAP closing – [that is] getting lower-performing students to achieve at higher levels – “improved from an ‘f’ to an ‘A,’ ” he told SpectrumOne.
Since then, Paulding County’s new economic development director, Tim Copsey, has increased the county’s income by negotiating to bring two solar farms to the area. Timber Road Solar Farm has been supplying local farmers with a “drought resistant form of income” since it came online in 2023.
Image credit: EDP and Timber Road Solar Farm (Ohio map) and Google Maps (Indiana map inset, below)
Will Indiana WElcome a New Wind Farm?
It may be an uphill battle for the UKA wind farm.
St. Joseph County recently enacted an ordinance to deter solar power generation in the county. But, the state already generates 3,368 MW – more than three times what Ohio’s wind farms generate – and another 302 MW are under construction, according to the US DOE and American Clean Power.
And it’s not a new development – according to the Indiana Office of Energy Development, wind energy has been part of the state’s fuel mix since 2006.
In Illinois, Indiana’s neighbor to the west, 7665 MW, or about 12% of the state’s energy, is derived from wind.
Will Indiana continue to do as other states do – including its neighbors, and other farming states like Iowa, and even oil-rich Texas – and sell wind power to fuel income for their state and county budgets? Time will tell, and we’ll be watching as things develop.
In the meantime, tune in to the October 7 podcast discussion about how farmers are negotiating more lucrative leasing agreements here. (The segment starts at 15:22)
You also might be interested in: New Jersey’s Electricity Rate Crisis is a Perfect Storm for Wind Energy
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