BISMARCK, N.D. (GPN) — Buoyed by a renewal of a key energy subsidy, construction of new North Dakota wind turbines is accelerating this fall, with three projects expected to add more than 550 megawatts to the state’s ability to generate renewable electricity.
The anticipated growth comes in spite of the demise of a huge wind farm in south-central North Dakota, originally envisioned as a $1 billion development that included plans to construct 212 wind turbines about six miles north of Ashley.
The project’s developer, a subsidiary of Competitive Power Ventures Holdings LLC of Silver Spring, Md., canceled the venture last month. Before its demise, it had been scaled back from almost 500 megawatts to a 200-megawatt project, with construction of as many as 87 turbines to provide the juice.
North Dakota wind farms are capable of generating up to 1,680 megawatts of electricity, which ranks it 11th among states, according to the American Wind Energy Association, a trade group.
North Dakota is one of nine states that uses wind to generate more than 10 percent of its electricity. It has the sixth-best wind resource of the 50 states, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which has offices in Washington, D.C., and Golden, Colo.
This year’s projects represent more than double the 235 megawatts of wind energy generation that North Dakota developers added last year. In 2011, only 21 megawatts of new, wind-generated electric power were built.
Construction of the three new projects must begin before year’s end to qualify for a federal tax credit of 2.3 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity sold for each project’s first 10 years of operation.
The pace of wind energy development has relied on periodic congressional extensions of the production tax credit, as well as a related subsidy that allows rapid tax write-offs of the projects’ value. The credit rankles budget conservatives in Congress, who say the wind industry should demonstrate it can flourish without taxpayer support.
The most recent one-year extension, approved by Congress in January, provided a $12.1 billion tax break to the wind industry over 10 years, according to the U.S. Senate’s Finance Committee.
“I think the production tax credit spurred those (North Dakota projects) on,” said Brian Kalk, chairman of the North Dakota Public Service Commission.
Another impetus for the expansion of North Dakota’s wind industry has been plans for construction of new power transmission lines, Kalk said.
“They have opened up the transmission congestion, so we probably will see more wind,” Kalk said. “The availability of transmission is increasing in North Dakota.”
U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., has opposed extending the production tax credit. Cramer is a former member of the PSC, which regulates the placement of wind energy projects.
“When you have a $16 trillion national debt, you have to make some difficult choices,” Cramer said. “Given the size of the debt we have, I don’t see how you can justify continuing (the credit).”
The three North Dakota wind projects slated for construction this year are in the central and western parts of the state.
Geronimo Wind Energy, based in Edina, Minn., wants to build more than 100 wind turbines in northeastern Stutsman County, capable of generating up to 200 megawatts of power. The project would cost about $170 million.
Geronimo already has agreements to sell the wind project’s output to Xcel Energy, a Minneapolis utility that provides electric service in Fargo, West Fargo, Grand Forks and Minot.
Some of the project’s specifics are being questioned by residents of rural Courtenay, about 30 miles northeast of Jamestown.
Robert Sprague, who operates an agricultural spraying business from a private airstrip eight miles southwest of Courtenay, has told state regulators that nine of the project’s wind towers would pose a safety threat to his airport.
Sprague said at least seven of the turbines’ blinking red lights would be visible from his home at night. A neighbor, James Hastings, a disabled veteran, has told state regulators that noise and flashing lights from nearby turbines could aggravate his post-traumatic stress disorder.
Grant Baumgartner, of Courtenay, said the project’s plan locates 14 of the turbines within a mile of his home.
“The collector substation is proposed to be placed right in front of, by country terms, my front door,” Baumgartner said in an email to the Public Service Commission. “I will be able to see it every time I open my front door, literally about 800 feet across a small field.”
Kalk said the commission will consider the complaints in making its decision about where the project’s wind turbines will be located.
The commission has scheduled hearings later this month for Minnesota Power’s planned 200-megawatt wind farm in western Morton County and southern Oliver County, and a 150-megawatt project near Hettinger that is being developed by Thunder Spirit Wind LLC.
Minnesota Power, which is based in Duluth, Minn., wants to add a fourth stage to its Bison wind-power project in the region. The Public Service Commission is holding an Aug. 21 hearing on the proposal at the Oliver County Courthouse in Center.
The utility, which serves more than 140,000 customers in northeastern Minnesota, has already built 101 wind turbines in the region, capable of generating up to 292 megawatts of electricity. It plans to invest $400 million in its Bison 4 expansion, putting up 70 new turbines that collectively could generate 210 megawatts of power.
Separately, the commission has scheduled an Aug. 9 hearing in Hettinger for a proposed 150-megawatt wind farm about 10 miles northeast of the community. As many as 75 wind turbine towers could be constructed, at a cost of $300 million. Thunder Spirit Wind LLC, which is based in Schenectady, N.Y., is developing the project.
Public Service Commissioner Randy Christmann said wind power developers also have the challenge of finding buyers for their electricity.
“It’s clear what the goal is, to get (a project) started before the end of the year,” Christmann said. “But I would presume they’re not only going to have to turn soil and get the project started, but they’re going to want to make sure they have a customer for that power.”
~Wetzel is the managing editor of the Great Plains Examiner and can be reached at Dale@GreatPlainsExaminer.com.~