Installations

While cluster wind energy activity has increased dramatically since mid-1995, many single utility-scale wind turbine and cluster wind projects have been operational in the Great Plains states for years. The earliest is a three-turbine cluster installed by NSP in 1986. Even by the utility's admission, it was not the shining example of wind power plant operation. However, it did give NSP a wealth of operating experience with utility-scale wind turbines (Bonus 65 kW machines).

Marshall Public Utilities has been buying electricity from a cluster of five wind turbines since 1992. The 120 kW Wind World machines are in a poor site within the city limits, but they are a highly visible example of the cluster wind energy concept.

In Iowa, a few clusters of 65 kW Windmatic turbines were installed in the early 1990s. Three were installed on Monty Miller's farm in north central Iowa in 1992; five were installed on George Braaksma's farm near Sibley. In May 1996, the largest wind turbine in the Great Plains was installed by Northern Alternative Energy next to the earlier project on the Braaksma farm. The 600 kW Micon M1500 turbine was the first turbine Micon assembled at its facility in Hutchinson, Minnesota. The turbine had to travel some distance to get to the site, however. It was displayed at Windpower '95, the annual meeting of the American Wind Energy Association in Washington, DC, and provided a hands-on large turbine example for the students in the wind technology training program at Southwest Technical College (Jackson, Minnesota).

Vestas American has several single turbines in Iowa. One V-27, 225 kW turbine was supplied to the municipal hospital in Nevada, Iowa; another was purchased by Shafer Systems in Adair, Iowa, just west of Des Moines. The turbine in Nevada joins two 250 kW Wind World turbines in town (installed in 1993 and 1994). One observer suggested that the view of the three dispersed turbines reminded them of installations in Denmark.

In the summer of 1996, two reconditioned Micon turbines were installed at two American Indian communities in North Dakota -- the Spirit Lake Nation of Sioux in eastern North Dakota, and the Turtle Mountain Chippewa in the northern part of the state. Power from the 108 kW turbines will be used to offset the load at a water plant and a casino. Members of the tribes have received training that will lead to a community-based business to operate and maintain the turbines.

Additional clusters of wind turbines are expected to be installed in the Great Plains in the near future. Permits are being issued to Northern Alternative Energy, Minneapolis, for an 11.25 MW wind power plant in far western Minnesota along the Buffalo Ridge. The company plans to use 15 Micon 750 kW turbines. Other utility and university projects are in the planning stages.

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