E-Mail Page  Print  Feedback

PrairieWinds ND 1

Basin Electric Power Cooperative is setting a milestone – to build the largest cooperative owned and operated wind project in the country.

During their February board meeting, Basin Electric’s directors approved the creation

Kevin Solie explains plans for the PrairieWinds ND 1 project to local residents at the Rural Utilities Service's public scoping meeting on April 3, 2008.

of a subsidiary, named PrairieWinds ND 1 (PWND1) Inc. The wholly-owned subsidiary was formed to develop the wind project. Another subsidiary, PrairieWinds SD 1 (PWSD1) Inc., has been formed to develop a later project in South Dakota.

Most of Basin Electric’s current wind power comes from turbines owned and operated by FPL Energy, an energy company based in Florida. Several years ago, Basin Electric developed two smaller wind projects, one near Minot and the other near Chamberlain, SD. Basin Electric owns both of these projects.

This will be the largest wind project owned by a cooperative in the United States. “Since we will own the project, we are evaluating the most efficient approach to deal with operations and maintenance,” project manager Ron Rebenitsch said.

Project facts

Capacity:	115.5 megawatts
Location:	South of Minot, ND
Project manager:	Ron Rebenitsch
Project engineer:	Amanda Wangler
Turbines:	77 turbines; General Electric 1.5sle
Project status:	Micrositing turbine locations
Estimated cost:	$240 million
Construction start:	Early summer 2009
Project completion:	Late 2009 or early 2010

Top of page

E-Mail Page  Print  Feedback

• PrairieWinds ND1
• Glossary

 

Questions about wind?

Click here to go to our Wind Q&A page for answers.

What is micrositing?

Micrositing: The process of determining exactly where each turbine will stand in a wind project. MET (meteorological) towers are used in micrositing. They measure wind velocity to help a project engineer determine where to place each wind turbine. While many factors influence engineers during the micrositing process, location is the largest factor that affects power output. The turbines must be placed in such a way that they don't steal wind energy from each other. The turbines should be at least 1,000 feet apart, and in many cases as much as 2,500 feet apart.