Wind Energy Zones makes finding public wind claims a matter of a simple search.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) grants individuals and companies wind energy collection rights on public land. Wind Energy Zones is a source to see where these wind claims are and have been.

New claims are being filed, auctioned, or resold through private sales. While claims change hands, become active or closed, or have new actions filed, we are updating our records to make this information available to everyone.

Panhandle–Plains Historical Museum

Not many museums devote an entire room to wind energy, but the role of wind on the settlement of the Texas Panhandle is of such great importance that the Panhandle–Plains Historical Museum includes a room full of windmills.  As Texas’ largest history museum, the Panhandle–Plains Historical Museum devotes the space and effort to clearly explore the native peoples, ranching, farming, and drilling that has…

Understanding Maps

The time has come for a over of our mapping services to clear the way for further development of handy tools for our users. As such, this month we have rolled out a new map format to better allow our users to quickly peruse wind energy leases by disposition. In order to keep the maps as clutter free as possibly,…

Understanding BLM Administrative Areas

We have added a new way to browse and explore leases: by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Administrative Area. To give context to this new feature, we wrote this handy explanation. Summary Nearly a quarter of a billion acres – about one-eighth of the landmass of the USA – is administered by the BLM. These public lands & resources contributed…

Understanding Townships

This entry focuses on a part of our earlier discussion, Understanding Location Data. For greater context on what we will be addressing, please read that post first. One of the more confusing aspects of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is the concept of “townships.” A “township” can refer to two different things. Both are part of the PLSS measurement system but have…

Gusty Palm Springs

Last weekend we had the pleasure of riding along with Rich on his Palm Springs Wind Tour. If you find yourself in Coachella Valley and looking to learn more about the area, we highly recommend this 2 hour introduction and ride through Palm Spring’s past and present of wind energy collection. Learn more at Palm Spring Wind Tours The Coachella Valley is…

Understanding Location Data

Claims handled by the Bureau of Land Management are not mapped by latitude and longitude, as many maps now use.  Instead, many of these claims harken back to an older form of surveying called the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), a  measurement system that may seem confusing to the uninitiated, but was a great step forward in the time that it…

Welcome!

We are excited to have launched the Wind Energy Zones!  There is a lot of wind energy collection that occurs across the US.  While much of this is occurring on public lands, few people are able to discover the “who,” “what,” and “where” of public wind claims.  Though this is a matter of public record, we aim to make it a matter of…