Winona County wind farm plans scrapped
An Illinois developer has scrapped plans to build a 100-megawatt wind farm in Winona County, after determining a potential site wasn’t windy enough to turn a turbine.
EcoEnergy in 2008 proposed EcoMin, a $220 million plan to build up to 67 wind turbines south of St. Charles, Minn., and west of Ridgeway, Minn., plus more turbines in Olmsted County, Minn. But EcoEnergy scrapped the Winona County portion of EcoMin earlier this year after tests showed wind speeds at a Wiscoy Township site can’t support a turbine, EcoEnergy spokesman Don Miller said Thursday.
The EcoEnergy announcement shows Winona County may not support the types of huge wind farms planned in Fillmore and Mower counties, though western Winona County has many good sites for small wind projects, said Linda Grover, director of the county Economic Development Authority.
The Wiscoy site yielded average wind speeds as much as 5 mph slower than in Harmony, Minn., where EcoEnergy hopes to build a 400-megawatt wind farm in 2010. The company is no longer eyeing the Wiscoy site, but wouldn’t dismiss exploring other Winona County sites in the future, Miller said. EcoEnergy officials met with local landowners in 2008 but never secured any land rights in Winona County, he added.
EcoMin also proposed generating up to 100 megawatts by building turbines in Olmsted County. EcoEnergy is testing wind speeds at a site near Eyota, Minn., but has no fixed plans to advance that project either, Miller said.
Sprawling wind farms like the one proposed in Harmony aren’t likely to crop up in Winona County, Grover said. That’s because this area’s topography prevents wind speeds from reaching desired levels, except on bluffs and ridgetops.
Grover isn’t surprised that the EcoEnergy project faltered, and said it isn’t a bad omen for private wind development in Winona County, or for the county’s plan to build two commercial wind turbines as an enterprise venture.
EcoEnergy’s Wiscoy site “wasn’t the most suitable site in the county,” Grover said. “There are good locations within the county where smaller developments could work really well.”
Grover knows of at least one small wind project under development in Winona County, though she declined to offer details.
The county EDA continues to work on its turbine project by courting investors for it, and by negotiating with Xcel Energy to sell power produced by the turbine, Grover said.
By Mark Sommerhauser
10 July 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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