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Five years ago, Baker County woodworker and rancher Randy Joseph started planning a farm for his community. First, he needed to convince the county, state and federal governments to support him, and then for the national economy to collapse and trigger a stimulus package.

Finally, Joseph can start farming electrons.

The Lime Wind Energy Project, scheduled to begin construction this summer, represents a number of firsts. It’s the first community wind farm in the state, and the first on federal land. It’s the first project of its kind funded by a state Department of Energy loan.

And, not insignificantly, it’s the first wind project Joseph took on. “I’m a woodworker,” he said.

“Talk to me about doors and hinging and I’m pretty articulate.

“I had no idea what I was getting into.”

Joseph is in the process of selecting a construction manager-general contractor for the 3-megawatt project, which will consist of 10 to 14 turbines on a ridge near the Oregon-Idaho border. The project is estimated to cost around $5 million, including $1.5 million for construction.

The idea for the project came when Joseph watched Enron fall apart and started thinking about how communities got their electricity. “Wind projects really got a hold of me,” he said.
If large, out-of-state corporations could harvest Oregon’s wind, Joseph thought, so could local interests. “People don’t recognize that, yes, we need that power,” he said.  “But why can’t we own it ourselves?”

One obvious reason is the expense of such projects. A small wind energy project would need a private equity partner. And available federal tax credits would be of limited value to a small developer with little income tax to pay.

That changed with the passage of the federal stimulus package. Suddenly, renewable projects could collect a federal grant instead of a credit.

Joseph sought financing from the Oregon Department of Energy. The state Energy Loan Program had loaned money to much smaller projects, but nothing comparable to the scale of the Lime project, with its 250-kilowatt turbines.

“They’re fairly good sized,” said Department of Energy spokesman Lou Torres. “This is the first community wind project of that kind.”

Torres, like Joseph, hopes the Lime wind farm sets a standard for others to follow. “These are the types of projects we’d like to do more of,” Torres said.

Judging by the response to Joseph’s request for proposals, more companies want to do projects like the Lime farm. Joseph thought he would field four or five proposals and quickly whittle the list down to two or three. Instead, he got 10 proposals.

Community wind projects benefit not just the local area, but the construction firms that want to tackle bigger renewable projects in the future. “It’s something to get on their résumé,” Joseph said.

“Renewable energy projects are going to be the next big thing,” he said. “And not all of them have to be 2-, 3-, 400-megawatt projects.”