EasternIowaFarmer_Fall2023

THE ENERGY ISSUE
million, while NextEra’s proposed wind
project would generate $25 million over its
similar lifespan.
When the Grand Mound project was first
being discussed, Clinton County Treasure
Dustin Johnson noted the importance of
caution when applying numbers to this
type of project because the tax revenue
correlates directly to the installation’s output,
which hinges on a variety of variables
including weather.
“It’s a production excise tax,” Johnson
said. “They won’t pay any direct property
tax like the parcels are generating now, but
the excise tax is attached to the parcels as
if it was property tax.”
The landowners on whose land the panels
are housed would not pay property tax
on the land, Johnson said.
“It’s not quite the economic boon that
some are wanting it to be, but that doesn’t
mean it’s bad either,” Johnson said at the
time. “I think there are a lot of positives to
the immediate economic development, and
we have the opportunity to improve some
Gene Takle
Iowa State
University
roads and landowners
will get higher
revenues (than
farming or renting
the land).”
Farmer Curtis
Dosland, whose
family is leasing
land to the project,
said at a public
hearing last year
that his family has
been long-time
stewards of the land and see benefits of the
project.
“The way we looked at it when we
decided to partner was a diversification of
income when it comes to family farms,”
he said, adding that some people choose
livestock confinements, different crops or
rent or lease their ground. This allows us
to retain ownership,” he said. “We believe
deeply this would leave the ground in a
better place at the end of it.”
Gene Takle, a professor emeritus of
agricultural meteorology in the Department
of Agronomy at Iowa State University,
studies the efficiency of utility-scale wind
farms and their interaction with agriculture.
While there isn’t anything in the way
of comparison in Eastern Iowa as it hasn’t
seen much in the way of commercial wind
turbine activity, other places in the state
have benefited from such developments,
Takle said.
“It helps communities in terms of the tax
base and improvements,” he said, adding
that he’s seen swimming pools go into little
towns and main streets spruced up as a
result of additional income.
“It resonates with farmers who want to
provide societal good,” he said. “Feeding
the world has always been a time-honored
goal. Now we can broaden that. We need
clean energy. With wind energy, there’s no
fuel needed.”
Researchers look for benefits
In the meantime, renewable energy is a
hot topic for research.
Takle has been studying turbines and
Clean Fields. Big Yields.
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