BISMARCK, ND - Senator Kent Conrad today met with leaders from Otter Tail Power Company to brief them on the status of Energy legislation in Congress and discuss the importance of North Dakota based wind energy projects.
"North Dakota's success in the clean-energy economy is exciting. Nowhere is that success more evident than here in Finley where they are harvesting much more than crops. The Ashtabula facility is harvesting the power of the wind to create renewable electricity," Senator Conrad said.
The new Ashtabula II wind farm consists of 35 turbines with the potential to produce up to 52.5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 15,000 homes.
Development of the wind farm began in 2006 by the Finley renewable energy firm M-Power, LLC. The project received backing from the USDA-supported Griggs/Steele Empowerment Zone. Otter Tail Power Company recently purchased Ashtabula II in an effort to expand the wind farm.
Senator Conrad has worked for years to foster development of wind energy in North Dakota, which has more wind energy potential than any other state. According to the American Wind Energy Association North Dakota alone is theoretically capable (if there were enough transmission capacity) of producing enough wind-generated power to meet more than one fourth of U.S. electricity demand.
Senator Conrad noted that Senator Dorgan and his colleagues on the Senate Energy committee passed a bipartisan energy bill in June that strengthens transmission planning and will jumpstart the expansion of lines that are required to move North Dakota wind power to market. Additionally, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that was passed in February included $11 billion for development of transmission lines and smart grid technology.
Today's meeting at Ashtabula II follows an official Field Hearing of the Senate Budget Committee that Senator Conrad chaired in Cooperstown. The hearing focused on the importance of the wind power industry in helping power the state's economy with high-wage jobs.
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Source: tradingmarkets.com, KFGO News Center
