Allete Clean Energy has started commercial operations at the 106MW Glen Ullin wind farm in the US state of North Dakota.
Glen Ullin features a mix of 43 GE 2.3MW and 2.5MW turbines and is located 64km west of Bismarck.
The wind farm is supplying electricity to Xcel Energy customers in the Upper Midwest region of the country.
Ten people are employed full time at the facility, which is also providing property tax and other business benefits to area communities and lease payments to landowners, the developer said.
Allete Clean Energy president Allan Rudeck said: “Today our team celebrates completion of the latest wind site that Allete Clean Energy has developed, built, and will own and operate.
“I would like to thank the North Dakota policymakers and area landowners who supported this investment.
“North Dakota’s ‘all-of-the-above’ energy policy strengthens local economies through projects like Glen Ullin and has made the state a national energy leader.”
Xcel Energy-Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota president Chris Clark said: “Wind energy in the Upper Midwest will help us deliver low-cost, carbon-free electricity to our customers and is part of our plan to reduce carbon emissions 80% by 2030.
“As a wind energy leader for more than a decade, projects like Glen Ullin bring investments to North Dakota while also keeping bills low for our customers.”
Glen Ullin is the third North Dakota wind project developed and built by Allete Clean Energy, and the first it will own and operate.
It also developed the 107.5MW Thunder Spirit wind farm near Hettinger and sold it to Montana-Dakota Utilities (MDU) in 2015.
Allete Clean Energy expanded Thunder Spirit to about 155MW and sold the expansion to MDU in 2018.
The developer is also working on the 80MW South Peak wind farm in Montana with plans to bring it online near the end of the year and sell the power to NorthWestern Energy.
Ground has also been broken on the approximately 300MW Diamond Spring project in Oklahoma.
Diamond Spring will sell power to Walmart, Starbucks and Smithfield Foods, when it comes online in late 2020.