Article published Jan 4, 2008

MDU’s new wind farm spins out power

The Associated Press

BAKER — A wind farm southeast of here could be fully operational by the end of the month. It started generating power last weekend.

MDU Resources Group Inc. is building the Diamond Willow wind farm. It will have 13 wind turbines with a total capacity of 19½ megawatts, which MDU spokesman Mark Hanson said is enough energy to power about 7,000 homes.

As part of the $38 million project, MDU built a substation on the land it leased about 10 miles southeast of Baker. The sub-station went on line Dec. 19 and the first turbine was energized Dec. 29, Hanson said. By the new year, five turbines were complete, four other towers built and waiting for rotors and another partially built.

Whether the rest of the towers will be running by the end of January depends on the weather, but so far the project is ahead of schedule. 

“It’s going along really well,” Hanson said in a Billings Gazette story Friday. 

The general contractor, Wanzek Construction Inc. of Fargo, N.D., was onsite in early September, foundation work began in late October and most of the equipment for the towers arrived in early December, Hanson said. 

The wind farm is on private and county land that MDU is leasing. The area is energy-rich, with oil rigs pumping near the turbines and natural gas stations dotting the land. 

The towers are erected using cranes that lift sections into place. A crane that is larger than standard construction cranes is used to put the lower and middle tower sections in place. A larger crane puts the top section, equipment housing and blades on the towers, which stand 262 feet high. 

“The ironic thing about doing this kind of work is if it’s a really windy day, you can’t put those top parts on,” Hanson said. “But you’re putting the towers in a place where, hopefully, you’re getting a lot of wind.” 

The blades, which are 121 feet long, will begin to turn with wind of 6 mph or 7 mph, Hanson said. When they are turning at a consistent rate, they start producing energy, which goes into the power grid. The blades reach capacity at wind speeds of about 25 mph. 

Montana law requires providers to have 5 percent of energy delivered to meters this year come from renewable sources. The requirement increases to 10 percent by 2010 and 15 percent by 2015. 

“This meets the requirement for us through 2010,” Hanson said.