Wind
Bison Wind Energy Center
The Bison Wind Energy Center in Oliver and Morton counties in North Dakota was built in four phases and has a total capacity of about 500 megawatts.
The Bison 1 Wind Energy Center near New Salem, N.D., includes 31 turbines. The 82-megawatt project was completed in February 2012. Bison 2 and 3 each consist of 35 turbines and together supply 210 megawatts of renewable energy. Commissioning of Bison 2 and 3 was completed in December 2012. The 205-megawatt Bison 4 has 64 turbines and commissioning was completed in 2015.
Bison 4 uses larger, more powerful Siemens wind turbine generators than those installed in earlier phases of the project. Because the generators are more powerful, it takes only 64 turbines to produce about the same amount of electricity produced by the 70 turbines installed for Bison 2 and 3.
Minnesota Power is moving the wind energy from North Dakota to Minnesota over a 465-mile direct current transmission line that the company purchased in 2009.
Watch video presentation of Bison Wind
Taconite Ridge
The Taconite Ridge Wind Energy Center, the first commercial wind energy center in northeastern Minnesota, began operating in June 2008. The 25-megawatt facility is located on property owned by U.S. Steel in Mountain Iron, Minn.
In addition to our own wind generation, we also buy wind energy from the Oliver County Wind Energy Center near Center, N.D.
