The Public Service Commission voted Wednesday to reissue siting certificates for the Pierce County project to Iberdrola Renewables Inc., a unit of Iberdrola Renewables S.A. of Madrid. The commissioners first approved the certificates in October 2005.
The wind farm was initially developed by PPM Energy Inc. of Portland, Ore. However, PPM never began construction, and the Spanish company (pronounced EE’-bur-DROLL-ah) acquired PPM’s parent, ScottishPower PLC, of Glasgow, Scotland, last April.
Tim Seck, wind development director for Iberdrola Renewables, told the commissioners at an informal hearing Wednesday that the company hopes to begin construction of roads and wind turbine tower footings in early October.
Iberdrola hopes to install the towers and turbines themselves in the summer of 2009, and be producing electricity by year’s end, Seck said. Earlier filings said the project represents an investment of more than $170 million. Originally, the wind farm was to have 100 General Electric turbines, each capable of generating 1.5 megawatts of electricity, commission filings say. Iberdrola instead will use 71 2.1-megawatt turbines built by Suzlon Energy Ltd., which is based in India.
The larger turbines means Iberdrola will need fewer towers and more spacing between them. Some landowners who were expecting to get wind towers — and the company payments that come with them — will not have them after all, Seck said.
Almost all the 71 planned wind towers are in locations first specified in the original project, according to maps and Public Service Commission filings. Seck said the location of a planned substation has been moved slightly.
During Wednesday’s informal hearing, Seck told the commissioners Iberdrola has not yet signed up customers for the wind farm’s power. But he said the project will be built in any case, and the electricity sold on the daily market if necessary.
North Dakota is part of a regional electric grid that is managed by the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator. The Midwest ISO, which has control centers in St. Paul, Minn., and Carmel, Ind., includes all or part of 15 states and Manitoba province in Canada.
Iberdrola has expressions of interest from a number of utilities within the management area, Seck said.
When plans for the Pierce County project were made public in February 2005, it was the largest wind farm planned in North Dakota. Since then, a number of wind initiatives have been announced, including plans by FPL Energy LLC to build a 1,000-megawatt wind farm in Oliver and Morton counties.
Brenda Dissette, director of the Rugby Job Development Authority, and another project supporter, Pat Bye, of Rugby, attended Wednesday’s hearing.
“This is very important to our community,” Bye said. “It’s part of economic development, and it’s going to bring more tax dollars into our community, and more people coming in for employment and better-paying jobs.
“People have been very excited about this,” Bye continued. “Everybody wants a wind tower on their farm ... Support in our community has been total, 100 percent.”
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