Wednesday, June 30, 2010

MDU Completes Wind Farms in North Dakota, Montana -- Heart of the Bakken

MDU has completed two wind farms in North Dakota and Montana.
  • The Rhame wind farm, Bowman County, southwestern North Dakota, 19.5 megawatts, 13 turbines
  • The Diamond Willow wind farm, Baker, MT, 10.5 megawatts, see comments section below
  • Can supply electricity needs for 10,000 homes
No cost provided

Rules of thumb
  • 500 megawatts on-land wind farms: $500 million
  • 500 megawatts off-shore wind farms: $1 billion
  • 1 turbine on the northern plains: 1 megawatt
  • 30 megawatts = 10,000 homes
UPDATES

Update -- July 22, 2010: after posting the above in which I asked how many turbines were supporting the Diamond Willow wind farm, I got the explanation, which is posted in the comment section below.
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 22, 2010 at 12:07 PM

    The power figures 19.5 MW and 10.5 MW reflect redundant geometry from Cydonia. The D&M-FACE alignment is 10.5 degrees offset the local Martian meridian at Cydonia

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  2. Bruce OksolJuly 22, 2010 at 2:06 PM

    Thank you for explaining. I am impressed with MDU's effort in the renewable energy arena. It is my impression that some utilities, including MDU, will be ahead of Congressional mandates (if and when they come), and such leadership will help utilities convince Congress they should not be the only entities that "pay" for "cap and trade."

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