National Wind establishes company to develop wind energy in Minnesota

Published: 17-Mar-2009

By: Staff Writer Staff Writer Staff Writer

Opens an office in Ortonville to better serve the project's needs

National Wind has established Little Rock Wind, a community-owned wind energy company, in partnership with several Big Stone County community members. The members have created a local advisory board to work with National Wind to develop up to 150MW of wind energy generation within the county.

Little Rock Wind has said that it will hold a Big Stone County landowner meeting on March 17, 2009 to introduce the project and its community wind development model. Little Rock Wind has opened an office in Ortonville, Minnesota to better serve the project's needs.

National Wind’s field specialist, Jesse Hopkins-Hoel, is working closely with the advisory board and area landowners to represent the project and to gain landowner participation. This includes helping landowners understand the economic benefits this development can provide.

jBill Smeaton, senior wind developer at National Wind, said: National Wind's community wind projects such as Little Rock are unique in the industry, we are developing utility-scale projects using a true community wind model.

We offer competitive land use payments, but our model also provides opportunities for local landowners to share in any revenues from a successful project. In addition, our local advisory board structure adds the voice of the community to the development process.

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