US developer Wind Quarry Operations is seeking interconnection approval for the 103MW Willow Creek wind farm in western South Dakota.
The $210m facility will feed into Western Area Power Administration’s 115kV Maurine to Rapid City transmission line, which runs through the project area.
Western, an agency of the US Department of Energy, prepared a draft environmental assessment on the proposed interconnection that found the project will have negligible impacts.
A public comment period closes on 9 September.
Last year, state regulators approved Wind Quarry’s plan to build 45 turbines on 22,000 acres of private ranch land in Butte County.
The proposal features Siemens SWT-2.3MW-108 machines with 80m steel towers.
A collector substation will be constructed at the south end of the project area.
The wind farm is expected to have a net operating capacity of about 400,000MWh/year to 430,000MWh/year, based on a 44% to 47% capacity factor.
Image: sxc
