Montana-Dakota to acquire North Dakota Wind Farm

Montana-Dakota Utilities, a division of MDU Resources has signed an agreement to purchase a North Dakota wind farm to be developed by ALLETE Clean Energy.

The wind project, located near Hettinger comprised of 43 turbines producing 107.5 MW of electricity.

The project is scheduled to be completed in December 2015 and the cost is approximately $200 million.

The company is committed to investing capital resources to meet the needs of customers and this project is a positive step in executing that plan and will be a great addition to Montana-Dakota’s generation portfolio, said David L. Goodin, president, CEO, MDU Resources.

In 2013, Montana-Dakota signed a power purchase agreement with Thunder Spirit Wind to purchase the output of the wind farm.

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They decided to operate the wind farm to meet customer need for energy and partnered with ALLETE Clean Energy (ACE) on an agreement that ACE will acquire the Thunder Spirit Wind project and sell the completed project to Montana-Dakota.

Earlier, ALLETE had developed other wind projects in North Dakota.

The electric demand continues to increase and this project is a great opportunity to increase the electric generation to meet that customer demand. The customer energy requirements are expected to grow at five percent per year for the next five years, said, Frank Morehouse, president, CEO, Montana-Dakota.

Not only does this project provide needed generation, but it also further diversifies company’s generation portfolio, boosting the renewable segment to 20 percent, he added.

The wind farm location allows Montana-Dakota to connect the project to its transmission system in major areas.

Sabeena Wahid
[email protected]