COMMUNITY TO OWN WIND

An interesting example of the power of community in a state with a great tradition of rural cooperatives. This is also an example of how legislatively-mandated requirements drive development.

Energy company says wind farm largest in U.S.
September 6, 2007 (St. Paul Pioneer Press)
and
High Country Energy LLC Announces the Nation’s Largest Community-Owned Wind Project
September 6, 2007 (PR Newswire)

WHO
National Wind LLC (Pat Pelstring, co-founder/chair) and 7 Minnesota community members/landowners (Barry Rogne, Bryant Hokeness, Dan Hoffman, Eric Lee, Ken Binkley, Kevin Green and Larry Larson);

Minnesota has wind. (click to enlarge)

WHAT
The company and the locals will form High Country Energy LLC to build the largest community-owned wind energy project in the use.

WHEN
Minnesota’s New Generation Energy Act of 2007 incentivizes the development of community-based energy production.

WHERE
National Wind LLC is based in Minneapolis. The community-owned wind farm will be in the eastern Dodge and western Olmsted counties of Minnesota.

WHY
- The High Country Energy LLC wind farm will have a 300 megawatt capacity. Anything over 50 megawatts is considered utility scale.
- The New Generation Energy Act of 2007 requires utilities to allocate space on the
grid for 1200 megawatts of community-based energy projects by 2025. Minnesota also has a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) mandating its utilities obtain 25 percent of their electricity from renewables by 2025.

This is how a Swansea Valley region in Wales funded its community wind farm. The Minnesotans used a more traditional financing strategy. (If you want to support the Welsh, click to enlarge -- the banner gives the contact details.)

QUOTES
Pelstring, National Wind: "We are grateful to the community for their strong local support of this project and to the local landowners who have decided to partner with
Us…This is a ground-breaking community-owned project because it compares in size to
some of the nation's largest utility projects."