June 22, 2021
North Dakota

Wind farm hearing postponed until August 24

Staff Report | Bowman County Pioneer | June 21, 2021 | www.bowmanextra.com

A planned public hearing on a proposed 74-turbine wind farm south of Bowman and Rhame has been postponed until August.

The Public Service Commission had been scheduled for June 24 at the Bowman Lodge and Convention Center.

The subject of the hearing is a proposed Apex Clean Energy project called Bowman Wind which covers more than 44,000 acres south of the two rural communities.

The Virginia-based firm has announced that the proposed wind farm would be able to generate approximately 200 megawatts, enough energy to power the needs of about 100,000 homes.

The project summary issued by the company has reported that the wind turbines would be up to 550 feet in height and spin at about 15 revolutions per minute. The company also said that the power generated by the project would go to the North Dakota electrical grid.

During the construction of the project, the company also said that hundreds of jobs would be generated locally and after completion, there would be between 10 to 12 full-time permanent jobs.

According to the company, over the approximate 30-year life span of the project, there would be millions of dollars in tax revenues generated for the county and local schools.

The project found the Bowman area location met several requirements – including a verified wind resource, access to existing high-voltage power lines, availability of private land and the proximity to state highways.

According to the company website for the project, the cost of wind energy has reportedly dropped more than 50 percent in recent years while the industry now provides wind powering the needs of more than 25 million homes across the country.

The Bowman Wind project would also be part of a new wave of energy generation which would also be able to store energy. The project would have a battery storage facility that could hold up to 100 megawatts for several hours. That would allow the project to send the energy when there is more space on the electrical grid.

The proposed project would cost approximately $420 million, and be operational by the end of 2022.

The state’s Public Service Commission had scheduled the hearing on the project for June 24, starting at 8 a.m. in the Bowman Lodge and Convention Center. The postponement of the hearing was announced June 18.

According to some officials, recent wind farms and other projects have found that growing congestion on transmission lines could add millions to the costs of upgrading the electrical grid and lessening the economic advantages.