GAYLORD — Counties are scrambling to redo zoning rules to accommodate a surge of interest in smaller wind-power turbines.

With state and federal policies and tax rebates promoting alternative power, including wind power, counties are seeing interest not just from big power companies, but from private citizens who want to instal turbines.

“A few years ago big companies were looking at wind farms and counties scrambled to get some ordinances in place. A lot of them grabbed the first ordinance they found and passed it,” said Brian Antonich of the Minneapolis-based non-profit group Windustry.

“Now they’re finding that they’re too restrictive for small systems. The ordinances didn’t differentiate between the big ones and small ones.”

Antonich met with Sibley County officials last week providing them with sample ordinances that make it easier for farmers and others to put in a smaller turbine while still requiring necessary setbacks.

“There’s a lot of counties going through the same process right now,” he said.

Small turbines are those that produce less than 40 kilowatts of power.

Most counties are moving to an ordinance that still requires a conditional use permit for large turbines but only an “over-the-counter” permit for a smaller one. Conditional use permits require public hearings, extensive studies and planning, and can be costly.

Veryl Morrell, Blue Earth County’s land use administrator, said Blue Earth County’s wind turbine ordinance differentiated big and small turbines from the start.

“We had one of the first ordinances in the state (passed in 2003). We did a lot of research on it.”

While making it easier to get a permit for a small system, there are still several requirements. The tower must be less than 200 feet tall and there are setback requirements from roads and property lines. (They generally must be about as far from property lines as they are tall.)

The turbines also must have an automatic braking system that locks the blades if the wind speed gets too high.

“They had a couple of them in western Minnesota where the blades broke off and they can fly about a quarter-mile. So there’s some safety considerations there,” Morrell said.

Morrell said the county issued two conditional use permits for large turbines — one by Lake Crystal and one by St. Clair — but neither project was ever built and the permits expired.

He said there has been some interest in small turbines, but he expected more interest than there has been.

Antonich said interest is growing quickly.

“There’s a lot of activity. A big problem is there are a small number of installers around the state that can build them. The other issue for an individual is there is a significant investment. It can be anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000.”

But he said tax credits and other programs are helping. And he said the U.S. Agriculture Department is evaluating its rules, potentially making wind power eligible for more financial assistance through the Farm Bill program.

“There’s a lot of hope that the Ag Department will be more favorable to wind power and that will help a lot of farmers build them,” Antonich said.

As of 2005 there were 162 small wind turbines in the state that were connected to a utility company’s grid. But Antonich said there are many more that aren’t hooked to a grid and therefore aren’t reported.

Some small turbines hook to a grid so they can sell any excess electricity to the power company, while others simply generate power for personal use.

Even if the pace of wind power isn’t as fast as he’d like to see, Antonich said it’s far better than just a decade ago when the Windustry group started.

“In the early 90s all we were doing was going around trying to convince people that their windy land was going to be valuable. Now there’s tons of interest.”