Wind Power
MRES and its members rank No. 8 on the list of public power utilities with wind power on their systems.
MRES and our member communities continually pursue opportunities to add renewable energy resources to our power supply portfolio. By doing so, we are making a concerted effort to help our members preserve and protect our natural resources for years to come, and the diversity in our generation assets also serves as a hedge to control our energy costs in the future. MRES and our member communities are uniquely situated to take advantage of wind because of our geographical location.
In just a few short years, we've gone from no wind resources to an energy portfolio with more than 82 megawatts dedicated to clean, renewable wind. In fact, about 12 percent of the energy we supply to our members will be derived from non-hydroelectric renewable resources, more than we need to meet present statutory requirements.
MRES has four wind projects in its renewable energy portfolio. We built our first wind farm in 2002 near Worthington, Minn., that consisted of two 900-kilowatt turbines. Then in 2003, we added two 950-kilowatt turbines at the same site.
In 2007, we signed an agreement with wind developers to purchase the output from an 18.7-MW wind project near Marshall, Minn., and a 20-MW project near Odin, Minn. Combined, the projects can power about 13,300 homes.
The most recent addition is the Rugby, N.D. Wind Project. This wind farm includes 71 2.1-MW wind generators with a total capacity of 149 MW. MRES contracted for 40 MW of capacity from the facility, which is enough to power as many as 11,000 homes.
MRES Wind Resources Fact Sheet
C-BED
MRES cooperates with the effort of the State of Minnesota to develop community-based wind energy projects by communities within the state. This effort is known as Community-Based Energy Development or C-BED. MRES participates in C-BED through two wind energy projects -- the Marshall Wind Project and the Odin Wind Project. To learn more, go to the MRES C-BED Tariff.