Allete Clean Energy has started construction of the 106MW Glen Ullin wind farm and also completed the $84m sale of the 48MW Thunder Spirit 2 project in North Dakota.
Glen Ullin has been under development since 2011 and will feature 43 GE turbines, which will be a mix of 2.3MW and 2.5MW hardware, Allete said.
The wind farm will supply electricity to Xcel Energy under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
Meanwhile, Montana-Dakota Utilities, a division of MDU Resources Group, has exercised an option to buy the second stage of Thunder Spirit.
The company already owns the 107.MW first phase, which was also built and sold by Allete after completion in 2015.
Thunder Spirit 2 is located near Hettinger and comprises 16 Nordex 3MW turbines.
Construction work employed 45 people, while a further 10 have full-time jobs on both Thunder Spirit 1 and 2 during the operational phase.
Allete Clean Energy president Al Rudeck said: “We are proud to have delivered a competitive energy resource to MDU that will help meet the growing energy needs of their customers.
“The Thunder Spirit expansion is part of our growing expertise in the energy industry as we now will focus our attention on completion of a second new wind project in North Dakota, the Glen Ullin Energy Center, in as many years, while advancing our company’s growth strategy as a clean energy developer, operator and strategic owner.”
Allete Clean Energy owns and operates 535MW of wind generation in Minnesota, Iowa, Oregon and Pennsylvania and will add projects in North Dakota and Montana in 2019, growing the portfolio to over 720MW.