Minnesota Power, a division of ALLETE and a supplier of electric service to 144,000 residents, in Northeastern Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin, announced that commissioning of Bison 1 Wind Energy Center has been completed, and renewable energy is flowing from this unit to the power grid.
The Bison 1 Wind Energy Center is the company’s latest wind farm located in New Salem, North Dakota. The farm includes 15 high-tech wind turbines.
Minnesota Power and Siemens, a major contractor and wind turbine supplier for the project, joined forces and completed the commissioning of the final Bison 1B turbine on January 31, 2012. The initial phase of the project, Bison 1A, was completed in 2010 and since then, it has been delivering renewable energy. Bison 1A includes 16 turbines with 2.3 MW efficiency.
During the erection of Bison 1A wind farm, the company planned to install Siemens’ advanced 3 MW turbines, which feature direct drive power units. Thus, Bison 1B farm will generate more wind power than Bison 1A for about the same cost.
Construction of Bison 2 and Bison 3 farms is ongoing and each wind farm will include 35 units of Siemens 3-MW turbines. Both farms will jointly deliver 210 MW of renewable energy.