A longtime energy executive based in The Hague and Houston, David Lawrence previously served as Executive Vice President Global Exploration for Royal Dutch She'll and as EVP of the Exploration and Commercial divisions of Shell Upstream Americas. In this latter capacity, David Lawrence played an integral role in Shell’s LNG business and wind energy business, which currently operates eight wind projects in the United States alone. In addition to widely recognized benefits such as cost-competitiveness and the provision of a clean, renewable energy source, wind turbines can provide considerable income boosts for landowners, farmers and local communities.

1. WIND ENERGY
PROVIDES BENEFITS
FOR FARMERS AND
COMMUNITIES
By David Lawrence, Shell

2. Introduction
 A longtime energy executive based in The Hague
and Houston, David Lawrence previously served
as Executive Vice President Global Exploration for
Royal Dutch She'll and as EVP of the Exploration
and Commercial divisions of Shell Upstream
Americas. In this latter capacity, David Lawrence
played an integral role in Shell’s LNG business
and wind energy business, which currently
operates eight wind projects in the United States
alone. In addition to widely recognized benefits
such as cost-competitiveness and the provision of
a clean, renewable energy source, wind turbines
can provide considerable income boosts for
landowners, farmers and local communities.

3. Wind Energy
 Wind turbines create revenue for community members in the
form of employment, state and local tax revenues, and lease
payments to landowners. In terms of farming, even the
largest wind energy projects have a relatively small footprint,
which enables farmers to continue raising livestock and grow
crops in the surrounding areas.
On a broader level, wind energy installations provide a
significant boost to county-level personal income. A National
Renewable Energy Laboratory study of 12 states in the Great
Plains and Rocky Mountains found that over an eight-year
period, wind energy projects produced an increase in county-
level income of $11,000 per megawatt of installed wind-power
capacity. The data also found that one job was subsidized for
every per 2 megawatts of capacity installed. These increases
were the result of both initial wind turbine construction,
operations and maintenance, and power generation activities.