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Wind farm gets hearing
Published 11:31am Saturday, May 2, 2009About 130 people attended a public information meeting on a proposed 60-megawatt wind farm hosted by the Office of Energy Security (OES) Wednesday evening in Barnesville.
OES is a part of the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
A 21,500 acre wind farm is being proposed by the Project Resources Corporation in Minneapolis that would be located in Becker, Clay and Otter Tail counties.
The purpose of the public information meeting was to answer any questions and to hear opinions on the proposed project, said Larry Hartman, OES project manager. Hartman added that as a member of a neutral government body, he couldn’t comment on the nature of the meeting.
Public comment period on the application and the draft site permit of the proposed project is open until 4:30 p.m. May 20. Written comments can be sent by mail, fax or e-mail and should include the project docket number, IP6603/WS-08-1449. All comments should be directed to Larry Hartman, larry.hartman@state.mn.us or 651-296-5089. Comments can also be left on the PUC’s energy facility permitting Web site, www.energyfacilities.puc.state.mn.us.
The Project Resources Corporation is applying to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission for a site permit on behalf of the Lakeswind Wind Power Partners. The site permit application was submitted on Jan. 20, 2009. The PUC issued a draft site permit Feb. 12, according to a project description by OES.
Project Resources Corporation is proposing to install between 17 to 35 wind turbine generators and plans to be running by December 2010, according to OES’s description.
The project was originally proposed for 19,000 acres located in Becker, Clay and Otter Tail counties. However, the amount of land has been amended to increase the project size by 2,500 acres.
About 19 acres of that is land that would be removed from agricultural production for use as turbine sites and access roads to the wind farm. The land used for the wind farm is expected to be leased from the landowners by the Lakeswind Wind Power Partners, Hartman said.
The project would use 80-meter (263-foot) tubular towers measured at the hub height. The rotor diameter of the turbines would be 252 to 331 feet with a maximum overall height of about 393 to 429 feet above grade when one blade is in the vertical position, according to the OES description.
Energy from the project is expected to be delivered directly to the Great River Energy Tamarac Substation on the corner of Minnesota Highway 34 and 183rd Avenue in Otter Tail County, according to the OES description.
During the public comment period, people have the option of request a contested case hearing on the project. The request must include the issues to be addressed in the hearing and the reason why a contested case hearing is required to resolve the issue, according to the OES.
If there aren’t any contested case hearing requests, the PUC can issue a final permit. However, Hartman notes that the company will have more permits it needs to obtain after the PUS permit before it can move forward.
