Peter Sinclair in the Midland Daily News (Michigan):
Bill Chilman is a big fan of big fans.
The recently retired superintendent of Beal City Schools, in Michigan’s Isabella County, saw his district through an important transition, as 86 wind turbines were installed in his district in 2020.
Each turbine is like its own small business, and is taxed like it.
Chilman explained that those tax revenues, levied in mills, have helped the school system with its bond indebtedness — the funds used to “build structures, classrooms, gyms, fields, cafeterias, those things”.
“Previous to the wind turbines, one mill generated $75,000 a year. Post-wind turbines, the same mill generates about $150,000 to $160,000 a year,” he said.
Chilman told an audience of farmers and landowners that, around Beal City, houses don’t stay on the market for long. And the housing market inside the Beal City School district is “very competitive.”
“The desire to live in there, amongst the windmills, and amongst some of the solar projects that we have coming in – and they want to be part of the school district, those property values are driven up,” he said. “I know in Beal, the housing market is exploding, even with 6% or 7% interest rates.”
Illinois Economist Dr David Loomis confirmed this is a common observation around the midwest.
“In most taxing jurisdictions, school districts get the lion’s share of those property taxes. In my experience they are the number one beneficiaries,” he said. “People widely recognize, whether they have school age children or not, a good school system is very important to overall property values, to having a prospering community.”
One of the things she sees in home buyers is a desire for a good local school systems.
“It’s one of the top choices,” she said. “Having better schools tend to improve real estate generally … with the additional tax revenue that solar brings to a community, that tends to improve the overall school system.”
Around the Midwest, many communities now have a decade or more experience with clean energy projects, mostly wind turbines, but increasingly, solar.
What’s striking is that that the predictions of doom, bordering on “Zombie Apocalypse” – that clean energy opponents spin up on social media, have not played out.
One such example is Meade Township in Michigan’s Thumb. Ten years ago, the community was in a battle between a wind developer and mobs of conspiracists, led by outside influencers with shadowy fossil fuel connections, who showed up at meetings and shouted down more moderate voices.
Meade ended up turning down the turbines, but neighboring Dwight and Chandler Townships said yes. In the decade that followed, residents of Meade noticed that none of the predicted ills appeared among the neighbors with turbines.
What did happen was that the wind townships were flush with revenue, and empowered to take on local challenges.
In 2021, Chandler Township, according to finance records compiled by cleargov.com, had $539 in revenue per person each year.
By contrast, Meade had only $188 per person per year.
This past summer, members of Meade’s Planning Commission passed a workable solar ordinance with a developer more than willing to make compromises and address legitimate local concerns.
Here in Midland County, Meridian Wind Park, commissioned in 2023, is now steadily pumping badly-needed revenue to local communities, while providing enough electricity to power nearly 80,000 homes.
Mount Haley Township, with 26 turbines, received $677,326 during the most recent fiscal year, according to Treasurer Leonard Breasbois.
Nearby Jonesfield Township in Saginaw County, with fewer turbines, brought in $285,342.Two nearby counties, Gratiot and Isabella, have gone big on a clean energy development. For Gratiot, that’s meant almost 94 million in revenues from 2012 through 2023. Isabella Wind, the state’s largest single wind farm, began operation in 2021, and from then till 2023, revenues of more than 18 million dollars had been paid, including, due to the siting of a connecting substation, $167,000 to Coleman Community Schools, and $157,000 to Midland’s Education Service District.
There’s more.
The State of Michigan recently added more incentives for communities who come up with workable ordinances for clean energy and permit projects locally.
The Renewable Ready Communities Grant program pays $5000 per megawatt installed for new projects, and has just announced the first nine recipients, including $1.5 million to Day Township in Montcalm County, and $375,000 each to Isabella County, and Isabella Township, which is hosting a new solar facility.
For the last 30 years, rural communities in the midwest have been hurting, and emptying out.
They’ve been subject to ills of drugs, poverty, violence, and rising “deaths of despair.”
Clean energy is reviving local economies, living standards, and pride.
Peter Sinclair is a Midland resident and internationally-recognized videographer who studies climate change and renewable energy issues.