Can a few turbines make farming profitable?

Engineering firm David Evans and Associates launched Momentum Renewable Energy in 2006 to invest in and develop community-scale renewable energy projects. The projects are intended to provide farmers with a new, profitable crop that allows them to continue farming.

As part of a strategic alliance with John Deere (NYSE: DE), Portland-based Momentum is poised to break ground on its first set of projects: a 5- and a 10-megawatt wind farm at Threemile Canyon Farms in Boardman, Ore.

For John Deere, the proposition is this: The easier it is for farmers and their children to continue farming profitably, the more customers the company will have.

Farmers decide whether to simply lease land to the developers or purchase equity in the wind farm. Either way, farmers don’t use the power directly. It’s more than they can use, and it’s far more lucrative to sell the power to the utility company.

For Momentum, turning a profit is less straightforward than it was a year ago. Revisions to Oregon’s Business Energy Tax Credit, which plays a key role in the company’s current business model, could cut into the company’s ability to turn a profit in a timely fashion [see "BETC or bust," SI, June 2007].