Avant Energy Services, the company that manages the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, is looking at building a wind farm in Pickerel Lake Township southwest of Albert Lea. It would be the second wind farm slated for Freeborn County.

The Shell Rock Wind Farm would be a 44-megawatt wind power project, enough energy to power about 15,000 households, said Leo Raudys, the vice president of development at Avant, on Tuesday in a meeting at the Tribune.

In comparison, the Bent Tree Wind Farm being built by Wind Capital Group in the Hartland-Manchester area will provide 200 megawatts of power, with a possible expansion to 400 megawatts. Wind Capital Group is developing Bent Tree, which will be sold to Alliant Energy when finished.

Raudys met Tuesday with Pickerel Lake Township landowners at the American Legion Hall in Albert Lea to discuss the Shell Rock Wind Farm. Landowners in the study area will be compensated $500 for cooperation by allowing Avant to study their land. Installation, once permits are acquired, would not begin until 2011.

“This is a get-to-know-you session,” he said.

The company hopes to build 30 wind turbines, with about one turbine per 80 acres. The wind farm will connect to the Alliant Energy transmission lines that cross the project area. The transmission lines are the main reason for the selection of the location, Raudys said.

Minnesota Municipal Power Agency

MMPA

Avant Energy Services

Avant

Avant is looking at 8,000 acres, an area that will be slimmed down to 2,500 by installation time, he said. Considering each turbine takes about a half acre of space, it would have a footprint on farmland of no more than 15 acres.

“We hope to create extra income for farmers, while keeping the farmland relatively undisturbed,” said Dave Pokorney, Chaska’s city administrator and MMPA chairman.

Landowners who end up with turbines on their property could make $5,400 per turbine per year, Raudys said. Landowners in the 2,500-acre project area also can make $20 per acre per year, he said.

The Shell Rock Wind Farm will help MMPA meet the state-mandated goal of generating 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2025. The principal permit needed comes from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.

See an MMPA map of the study area for the Shell Rock Wind Farm.

The MMPA is a nonprofit organization of municipal utilities. While it presently purchases wind energy, it has no wind farms in its energy portfolio, Raudys said. It is in the early stages of building a 44-megawatt wind farm northwest of Blooming Prairie and hopes to construct a 200-megawatt wind farm at a location in southern Minnesota. Raudys declined to say the location because Avant first needs to study the area further and speak to local landowners.

The MMPA built and operates the natural-gas-fueled Faribault Energy Park visible from Interstate 35. Member MMPA utilities are in Anoka, Arlington, Brownton, Buffalo, Chaska, East Grand Forks, LeSueur, North St. Paul, Olivia, Shakopee and Winthrop. Avant has been the management partner for MMPA for 20 years. It also has a project called Hometown Wind Power Project, which places a small wind turbine in every member MMPA city.