Vision Energy establishes long-term relationships with landowners to build wind power projects that add value to the land and the environment. We hope to answer some initial questions here, and encourage you to contact us with further questions and comments.

Q: Is my property a potential wind power site?
A: There are many important factors to consider in determining the viability of a potential wind project. These include high quality wind “resource” (i.e. the wind’s strength, consistency, etc.), access and proximity to utility transmission lines with available capacity, construction viability, and many others. For a comprehensive outline of the steps required to develop land into a wind project.

Q: Do wind turbines affect wildlife?
A: Local wildlife studies are conducted prior to constructing a wind farm to ensure the project is developed in the most environmentally friendly way possible. Most wildlife is not negatively impacted by wind farms. Birds and bats occasionally collide with wind turbines, as they do with other tall structures. Except for a few areas of the country (the Altamont Pass in California), these impacts are generally considered to be low and are not a major concern. Wind's overall impact on birds is lower than other sources of avian mortality such as vehicles, buildings and house cats.

Q: Can my land be used for other purposes along with a wind project?
A: Wind projects coexist with a variety of land uses. In the Midwestern United States, wind farms are a highly compatible land use with agricultural farming and serve as a secondary source of income. Wind farms typically.

Q: Are wind turbines safe?
A: Wind energy is one of the safest generating technologies in the world. Some of the many safety features include shutdown at high wind speeds and lightning protection.

Q: How much land is taken up by a wind project?
A: Typically, less than 2% of total land area is used by a wind project’s equipment and support structures, including the wind turbines, electrical lines, electrical substation, maintenance roads, and related infrastructure.

Q: How does wind power work?
A: Please visit the websites of the American Wind Energy Association, www.awea.org/pubs/factsheets.html for their excellent descriptions of how wind turbines generate electricity.

Q: What kind of tax revenues do wind farms provide?
A: Wind farms are typically multi-million dollar projects that provide significant tax revenues for rural communities. These revenues often serve to lower tax rates for other residences and businesses.

Q: Are wind turbines noisy?
A: Noise was an issue with some early wind turbine designs in the 1980s, but the problem has been largely eliminated through improved engineering and by placing turbines appropriate distances away from homes. The minor noise that is caused when the blades turn is generally described as a "whoosh" or "swish" sound, and a small amount of noise is generated by the mechanical components of the turbine. It's easy to have a conversation in a normal tone of voice at the base of an operating turbine. At a distance of 1000 feet, the audible noise from a wind turbine is typically 45 to 50 average decibels, and is effectively masked by the background noise of the wind itself. To put this into perspective, a wind turbine at this distance is no noisier than the reading room of a library.

Q: The wind doesn't always blow. Is wind energy reliable?
A: If a power system were relying on wind energy to meet 100% of its needs, the intermittent nature of the wind would be a problem. But wind energy today is used on a much smaller scale - less than 1% of the nation’s electricity supply currently comes from wind energy. And there is enough flexibility built into the system to accommodate the fluctuations in the power produced at a wind farm.