community wind for Meeker and Kandiyohi counties
From the St. Cloud Times
By Charles Pulliam
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Land owners in Meeker and Kandiyohi counties have partnered with a Minneapolis-based wind company to establish a wind turbine project expected to produce up to 250 megawatts of wind energy for the area.
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The project, known as Lake Country Wind Energy, is expected to generate enough electricity to power almost 75,000 homes.
“What probably sets us apart from other wind energy developments is we are trying for a community-owned wind project,” said Steve Bergo, a Lake Country Wind Energy board member.
Jack Levi, co-chairman of National Wind, the firm with which land owners are partnering, said some proceeds of the project will be retained in the community. Land owners are expected to participate in the development process.
As one of the founding land owners, Bergo said he was glad to start the project. But he estimated it will take between three and five years before turbines begin operating.
“It’s a very slow process of development,” Bergo said. “These first 18 to 24 months we’ll just be checking the transmission capacity of the power lines in the area.”
Bergo said wind energy developments often get hung up on necessary power line upgrades before the energy can be harnessed, but he hoped the project would move forward quickly.
Minnesota is the nation’s third-largest producer of wind energy, trailing behind Texas and California.
The American Wind Energy Association reported Minnesota had 1,299 megawatts of wind energy at the end of 2007.
National Wind, based in Minneapolis, has more than 4,000 megawatts of wind energy projects in development in Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota and Iowa.
Copyright St. Cloud Times 2008. Read this story on the St. Cloud Times website.