FOWLER, Ind. — Wind farming in Indiana may still be in its infancy, but in Benton County – one of the windiest spots in the state – at least three energy companies are vying to tap the breeze for electricity production.

And landowners who rent out the acres necessary for the turbines describe the ventures as win-win situations.

“We get a sizeable amount (of money) and for no more land than we lose, it’s a nice additional income,” said John Gilbert, a Benton County farmer who plans to lease some of his land to wind-energy producer enXco. “I think it’s good for the community. We’re a rural county with a few small towns and no real manufacturing. (The wind farms) fit in well with agriculture and will create new jobs.”

Presuming construction goes according to schedule, the first electricity-generating wind farm to come online in Indiana will be Orion Energy Group’s (OEG) 130-megawatt Benton Wind Farm, which covers a 7-by-5-mile area in the northwestern corner of the county. OEG started construction on the 87 turbines in September and plans to start selling electricity by May next year.

When OEG first started approaching local farmers about land leases, the landowners formed a committee to negotiate some of the provisions in the original agreements. Committee member Bryan Berry, who is leasing a portion of his land to the Benton Wind Farm, said the company was open to the landowners’ concerns about crop compaction and possible damage to drainage tile.

“They (OEG) were very upfront and honest with us. If there was something we wanted done and they couldn’t do it, they sat down with us and explained why,” Berry said.

OEG’s leases provide landowners with a $5,000 annual base payment that will increase with the cost of living every year. In addition, landowners who have turbines on their land will receive extra payments in proportion to the amount of energy produced. Berry said the final agreements carry virtually no risk for the landowners, who are not asked for any investments and can keep farming the fields as usual.

“We can farm right up to the towers,” he said. “It’ll be a bit of a pain to farm around them in the beginning, but after a few years I think we’ll figure out how to do it.”

OEG’s wind farm will be maintained and operated by enXco, a wind energy company that’s also in the process of developing a wind farm in Benton County. EnXco’s $200 million 100-megawatt project will be located east of OEG’s wind farm, just south of the Newton County line. Some environmental permitting remains, but according to enXco spokesperson Ian Krycowski, negotiations with landowners are well underway.

“The reactions have been very positive so far and we’ve seen a great deal of interest from people who would like to host a wind turbine on their property,” he said. “The turbine and the access road leading up to it will take up about half an acre, everything else can stay in agricultural production. We’ve worked with landowners to make sure we’ll make as little impact as possible.”

EnXco plans to build 50-67 turbines, but has yet to announce a purchase agreement with a utility for the electricity the towers will generate. Krycowski rated Indiana’s wind-producing potential as “moderate,” but expects to see more wind farms in the state in the future.

“Wind energy has grown exponentially over the last decade or so and I think this will continue as utilities are becoming more and more comfortable with the technology,” Krycowski said.

In addition to the OEG and enXco projects, BP Alternative Energy plans to construct a wind farm in Benton County – Fowler Ridge Wind Farm. Subsidiaries of American Electric Power (AEP) have agreed to purchase 200 megawatts of electricity from this wind farm. BP said it’s too early to discuss the details of the project, but according to AEP, the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm is expected to be online by the end of 2008.

With three wind farms in the making, hundreds of Benton County landowners will be able to increase their stakes in the energy market, alongside the ethanol and biodiesel that’s already being derived from their crops.

“I’m excited about it,” said Gilbert, who’s not worried about energy generation competing with food production. “We can produce food and energy, they go hand in hand. We’ve proven that this year, when we’ll produce the biggest corn crop in history.”