Oct 29 2010
The Crow Lake Wind Project, which is a $363 million MW wind farm spread over Jerauld, Brule and Aurora counties in South Dakota, is being constructed by Basin Electric Power Cooperative. Basin Electric would own and manage 101 of the GE 1.5sle turbines through its subsidiary company Prairie Winds SD 1.
This project would be completed in 2011, and is said to be the biggest co-operative owned wind project in the United States with a 151.5 MW capacity. Its latest regulatory approval was given after three years, by the Rural Utilities Service published in the Federal Register on 5th October. Once the approval was obtained, the construction equipment was organized, and a record 200 jobs was available to complete the installation of the turbines. According to Basin Electric’s General Manager and CEO, Ron Harper, the first phase was basically developing roads, crane walks and foundations.
MW wind farm
South Dakota Wind Partners, a domestic community investment company, owns seven of the wind turbines, which sell the electricity produced to PrarieWinds and Basin Electric. An investment of $16.8 million has been made to develop their section of the wind farm of capacity 10.5 MW. The Wind Partners’ President, Jim Burg commented that it was surprising to see the federal government offering ways for involving everybody. Almost 611 people have invested in this project with the income and profits coming back to South Dakota.
Mitchell Technical Institute is purchasing a wind turbine, which would be operated by Basin Electric, and utilized it for the Wind Turbine Technology degree program of MTI. This degree program was introduced in 2009, to provide well trained technical support to the wind industry. This institute is gaining a $1.167 million grant from the US Economic Development Administration, for the purchase of the turbine. This was Basin Electric’s fourth and fifth effort, which was owned by cooperatives and investors since the year 2002. On completion of the turbines, the co-operative would have around 700 Mw of wind power capacity serving around 2.8 million clients in nine states. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, a US Representative, declared that this project was a shining example of how South Dakota’s new energy economy could be built, with the help of the State, federal, industry and private sector partnerships. With the tax incentives and grants given by the Congress, this project would be a wonderful facility, providing growth and stability to the wind energy industry in both South and North Dakota.