Minnesota Power held a ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday in North Dakota to kick off construction of its first wholly owned wind farm in North Dakota.
The $178 million, 76 megawatt Bison 1 Wind project to be built near New Salem, N.D., follows Allete's $70 million purchase of a 465-mile transmission line to bring wind energy from North Dakota to its customers in Northeastern Minnesota. Allete is Minnesota Power's parent company.
The wind farm and transmission line are key to the company reaching the state mandate of generating 25 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2025.
In the project, 33 Siemens wind turbines will be built. Sixteen will be up and running by the end of the year, and the other 17 will be built next year.
North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven and about 150 residents joined Allete President and CEO Alan R. Hodnik and other company officials for the event, which was moved inside because of excessive wind.
