Arizona State Land Wind Assessment

The goal of this program is to assess wind resources that may exist on state owned or administered lands that could serve as a potential clean energy resource for development, bringing economic and environmental benefits to Arizona. The program will 1) identify appropriate sites for wind assessment, 2) install anemometry kits, 3) collect, analyze and make public all wind data 4) examine and modify existing state lands use plans pertaining to wind assessment, and 5) provide wind-related outreach to Arizona’s agricultural/rural sector.

The Arizona State Land Wind Resource Assessment will be led by Northern Arizona University (NAU) and include representation from the Arizona Wind Working Group (AZWWG) and Windfinders, an Arizona corporation specializing in wind resource assessment.

As confirmed by Arizona’s new high-resolution wind energy map, Arizona has a significant wind resource that is developable on the commercial scale. This wind resource, however, has historically been under-reported. The locations of the best wind resources are concentrated in pockets and distributed along ridgelines throughout the state, both on and near lands owned or administered by the Arizona State Land Department. Virtually no wind assessment data useful for wind energy development is publicly available. Thus, the wind energy potential measured in this project, and its validation of the state wind resource, will encourage wind energy development in Arizona. The wind energy data and summary reports will be made readily accessible via the NAU Sustainable Energy Solutions web site. NAU will provide industry standard data analysis required for wind energy development.

The program will also provide Arizona a means to fairly valuate particular lands when entering long-term lease contracts with wind developers thus maximizing the State’s potential collected revenues. At the conclusion of the program the team will recommend improvements to the State’s existing land use permit and leasing process that will further encourage development of wind assets on state lands.

Because many of the wind resources within Arizona are in rural areas of the state, it is highly likely that the wind resource assessments will be conducted in rural or agricultural areas. After collecting a minimum of six months of wind data, outreach activities will commence to educate and inform residents and communities about wind energy technology, economics, and the wind project development process. The purpose of these outreach activities will be to demonstrate that wind energy development can yield significant benefits to the local communities as well as the state. Furthermore, building local support for a wind energy project is fundamental to its success.