Minot wind farm goes fully on line
Members of Verendrye Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Velva, will be among consumers benefiting from the Minot wind project.
Basin Electric Power Cooperative
- December 31, 2009
Originally published by The Minot Daily News
Reported by Jill Scram
Basin Electric Cooperative closed 2009 by putting the last of its wind turbines south of Minot into operation, the cooperative announced Thursday.
The final 10 turbines of the 77-turbine project went into operation at 8:25 p.m. on Dec. 30, meeting the cooperative's aggressive timeline to complete the $250 million project in 2009.
For the past five months, crews from contractors RMT and General Electric have been working day and night, seven days a week to complete the project.
"They worked in snow, rain, wind and in the dark, but they got it done and safely," Ron Rebenitsch, Basin Electric manager of alternative technologies, said in a prepared statement.
Wayne Backman, Basin Electric senior vice president of generation, said the cooperative is on track to have renewable energy generation equal to 20 percent of current member load by the end of 2010. This would exceed the resolution Basin Electric's membership passed in 2005 requiring that 10 percent of their electricity demand be provided from renewable forms of energy.
More than 600 megawatts of wind generation are expected by the end of 2010, which is enough to power the average annual energy needs of 175,000 homes.
Members of Verendrye Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Velva, will be among consumers benefiting from the Minot wind project.
"This is a dream come true for me and for Verendrye Electric," manager Bruce Carlson said in a prepared statement. "This goes back to the late '70s and early '80s when Verendrye Electric partnered with the Department of Energy on a wind data collection project at the former radar base site south of Minot. We knew we had good data then, and it took Basin Electric and great support from Verendrye members/landowners to finally pull this together, and I'm extremely proud."
The Minot wind projects are expected to need about eight full-time operations and maintenance employees.
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1717 East Interstate Avenue
Bismarck, ND 58503-0564 USA
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Basin Electric Power Cooperative will provide cost-effective wholesale energy along with products and services that support and unite rural America.
