April 15, 2008 4:59 PM CDT

Minnesota power company buys $200 million of wind energy by Bob Geiger Staff Writer

Southern Minn. Municipal Power buys 100 megawatts of wind energy from enXco Rochester-based Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (SMMPA) has signed a 20-year contract to buy wind energy generated by the Wapsipinicon Wind Project LLC in Mower County.
Located 90 miles south of Minneapolis near the Iowa-Minnesota border, the Wapsipinicon Wind Project will boost the renewable energy portion of SMMPA’s energy capacity to 10 percent.
Dan Hayes, manager of member support programs and agency communications for SMMPA, said that Escondido, Calif.-based enXco plans to install 67 General Electric 1.5-megawatt wind turbines before the end of 2008.
Wind farm developers typically spend about $2 million per megawatt of capacity to install the tall white wind turbines whose spinning rotors generate electricity.
Hayes said he would not comment on the financial particulars of the deal, but the 101.5-megawatt capacity indicates that total development costs are about $203 million.
Developers are driving to have their wind energy projects finished and online by the end of 2008 because they will receive a 2-cent-per-kilowatt-hour renewable energy tax credit from the government for 10 years if a project is finished before then.
The U.S. Senate passed a one-year extension of the so-called Production Tax Credit on April 10, but Congress has not approved the final energy bill.
Located near Austin, the Wapsipinicon Wind Project is located on wind-blown rural land near Austin that is part of a crescent of farm or prairie land along Minnesota’s southern border with Iowa and western border with North and South Dakota.
According to the American Wind Energy Association, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group, Minnesota ranks third in installed wind energy projects with 1,299 megawatts of wind energy.
California and Texas rank ahead of Minnesota in wind energy that already is flowing on the grid.

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