Rugby Wind Farm Growing

North Dakota s Public Service Commission has approved two new wind power projects that will produce about 300 megawatts of power The PSC OK d the projects today One is in Dickey County The other is just south of Minot where Basin Electric wants to put up 77 towers to generate 115-megawatts of electricity The PSC votes come as another major wind farm is taking shape near Rugby Jim Olson reports If you consider this a wind farm the crops are at just about every stage of development right now Here north of Rugby there are wind tower sites from seedlings to full-grown plants - and everything in between A foreman for the general contractor on the project stopped to count the number of towers now spreading out across the countryside Steve Bachmeier Wanzek Construction andamp quot There s gotta be close to 50 of them up already andamp quot And before this farm is complete there ll be 71 towers - each capable of producing 2 1 megawatts of power from North Dakota s abundant supply of wind Steve Bachmeier Wanzek Construction andamp quot It s a fairly good-sized job yes andamp quot Jim Olson KX News andamp quot One of the amazing things about this project is its scope It covers more than 40 square miles here north of Rugby andamp quot Steve Bachmeier Wanzek Construction andamp quot It s six miles east-to-west and seven miles north-to-south andamp quot But there s much more going on here than just erecting wind towers Crews are working on many other aspects of the project Steve Bachmeier Wanzek Construction andamp quot Overhead power lines underground that tie the towers together overhead power lines that go to a substation near the job site itself and overhead runs into a substation in Rugby where the power goes out on the grid andamp quot Once it hits the electrical grid the power will be off to customers such as Missouri River Eneregy Services providing power to customers in the Dakotas Minnesota and Iowa That s one of the customers that Iberdrola Renewables has found for the energy produced here Iberdrola bills itself as the largest producer of wind power in the world And getting this 149-megawatt wind farm on line is requiring a lot of workers Steve Bachmeier Wanzek Construction andamp quot We have roughly 150 people on the payroll and the subcontractors underneath us have I d guess 100-140 workers It varies with people coming in and out andamp quot This bumper crop of 71 wind towers should be finished growing this fall Near Rugby Jim Olson KX News The 149 megawatts of power expected from the Rugby project will bring the state s total output of wind power to about 1 000 megawatts