ALLETE Clean Energy Finalizes Sale of Thunder Spirit Wind Project to Montana-Dakota Utilities
ALLETE Clean Energy (ACE) has finalized its sale of the Thunder Spirit
wind development to Montana-Dakota Utilities after wrapping up
construction on the project in December.
A subsidiary of ALLETE Inc. (NYSE:ALE), ALLETE Clean Energy built the
107 Megawatt (MW) wind farm near Hettinger, N.D., under a development
agreement with Montana-Dakota Utilities (MDU), a division of MDU
Resources Group (NYSE: MDU). Montana-Dakota acquired the finished
project for $200 million and will operate the wind farm for use by its
utility customers. Thunder Spirit will generate enough electricity to
power about 30,000 homes.
“ALLETE Clean Energy continues to build its capabilities with the
successful construction and sale of Thunder Spirit,” said Eric Norberg,
president of ALLETE Clean Energy. “We look forward to leveraging our
growing operational and development capabilities as we continue to
explore opportunities in the renewable energy marketplace.”
Thunder Spirit is the first project ALLETE Clean Energy has developed
and built for another company. The project features 43 Nordex N100 2.5MW
turbines that were shipped from the German wind equipment manufacturer
via the St. Lawrence Seaway into the Port of Duluth-Superior in
Minnesota and then trucked to North Dakota. During peak construction,
more than 200 contract employees were at work across the 10,000 acres of
land included within the wind farm’s perimeter. Thunder Spirit is about
100 miles southwest of Bismarck, N.D., in Adams County.
Norberg cited the strong and collaborative working relationship with MDU
and support from residents, city and county officials, and leaseholders
in the Hettinger community as important factors in the project’s
success. Area residents joined government representatives, utility
executives and contractors in August at a community event where they
signed their names on one of the project’s 160-foot fiberglass wind
blades.
“I’m so impressed and grateful for the outstanding cooperation and
support we received at every level,” Norberg said. “Thunder Spirit is a
tremendous carbon-free energy resource in an energy-rich state, and we
are pleased to play a role in MDU’s delivery of renewable energy to its
utility customers.”
“It is so rewarding to see a project of this magnitude come together to
provide our customers with a low-cost source of power,” said Nicole
Kivisto, president and CEO of Montana-Dakota. “We could not have
finished this project in a timely manner without the dedicated work of
our employees, ALLETE Clean Energy’s management, and the construction
provided by Wanzek Construction and Nordex. It was a great partnership.”
In recognition of the Hettinger area’s support of renewable wind energy,
ALLETE Clean Energy recently donated $10,000 to the Adams County
Community Foundation, a newly created fund of the North Dakota Community
Foundation that is designed to support a wide variety of community
efforts, including senior centers, hospitals, public parks, food
pantries and arts programs.
“We appreciate the opportunity to participate in this important endeavor
that will help to ensure a strong future for communities in Adams
County,” said Wells McGiffert, Project Manager for Thunder Spirit.
Thunder Spirit is the latest successfully completed project for a
company that has experienced rapid growth since it was formed four years
ago, now owning and operating wind generation facilities in four states
with a total capacity of more than 500MW. ALLETE Clean Energy’s most
recent acquisition was a 101MW facility in Armenia Mountain, Pa.,
earlier this year. ALLETE Clean Energy also owns and operates the
Chanarambie-Viking and Lake Benton wind farms in southwest Minnesota,
Storm Lake 1 and Storm Lake 2 in Iowa, and a wind farm in Condon, Ore.
Video of the project can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/CJPzCfjvWu8
ALLETE Clean Energy was established in 2011 to acquire or develop
capital projects to create energy solutions by way of wind, solar,
biomass, hydro, natural gas, shale resources, clean coal technology and
other emerging energy innovations.
ALLETE is an energy company headquartered in Duluth, Minn. In addition
to its electric utilities, Minnesota Power and Superior Water, Light and
Power of Wisconsin, ALLETE owns ALLETE Clean Energy, based in Duluth,
U.S. Water Services headquartered in St. Michael, Minn., BNI Coal in
Center, N.D., and has an eight percent equity interest in the American
Transmission Co. More information about ALLETE is available at www.allete.com.
ALE-ENRG
The statements contained in this release and statements that ALLETE
may make orally in connection with this release that are not historical
facts, are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ
materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and investors
are directed to the risks discussed in documents filed by ALLETE with
the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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