Location change for Crow Lake Wind Project dedication
The dedication will be held at the White Lake High School rather than the wind project operations and maintenance building.
Basin Electric Power Cooperative
- June 21, 2011
WHAT:
Due to extreme weather and subsequent poor road conditions, the dedication ceremony for the Crow Lake Wind Project has been moved to White Lake High School. Tours will be available following the ceremony dependent upon weather and road conditions.
WHERE:
White Lake High School - gymnasium
502 East Division Street
White Lake, SD 57383
WHEN:
10:30 a.m. CDT, June 23, 2011
WHO:
- South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard
- Ron Harper, CEO and general manager, Basin Electric Power Cooperative
- Kermit Pearson, Basin Electric director
- Jeffery Nelson, general manager of East River Electric Power Cooperative, Inc., Madison, S.D. and president of the South Dakota Wind Energy Association
- Jim Burg, president of the South Dakota Wind Partners, LLC
- Greg Von Wald, president of the Mitchell Technical Institute
- Letters from South Dakota’s U.S. Congressional delegation will also be read.
BACKGROUND:
- The $363-millIion Crow Lake Wind Project was built and is owned by PrairieWinds SD 1, Inc., a subsidiary of Basin Electric. It was placed into full operation in February of this year.
- The Crow Lake project is an industry trifecta – it’s the largest wind project in the United States owned solely by a cooperative, it has a first-of-its-kind community wind investment partnership, and it’s being used to educate future wind technicians.
- Construction on the Crow Lake project began Oct. 5, 2010.
- The entire project consists of 108 GE 1.5-megawatt turbines – 100 are owned and operated by PrairieWinds SD 1, Inc., one turbine is owned by MTI, and the remaining seven are owned by a group of local community investors called the South Dakota Wind Partners. PrairieWinds constructed the turbines for the Wind Partners and MTI, and will operate and maintain them. PrairieWinds will also purchase the electricity generated by the eight turbines.
- The Wind Partners investment is a first-of-its-kind partnership for wind development. The opportunity became viable following passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009. The act created a new tax grant option allowing small investors to access government incentives and tax benefits making public wind ownership possible.
- Basin Electric Class A member East River Electric Power Cooperative, the South Dakota Farm Bureau Federation, South Dakota Farmers Union and the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council created the Wind Partners for that purpose.
- The turbine sold to MTI will be used as part of the school’s Wind Turbine Technology program, which launched in 2009. Through a grant, stimulus bonds, GE support and the South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development, MTI purchased the turbine. The revenue collected from electricity sold will help cover maintenance costs and loan payments.
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Bismarck, ND 58503-0564 USA
Phone: 701.223.0441
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