Company seeks state approval for $750 million western SD wind farm

A company is asking South Dakota regulators for approval to construct a $750 million wind farm in western South Dakota that would produce up to 300 megawatts — enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes. 
The proposal from Philip Wind Partners, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Invenergy, would be in a 70,000-acre area of privately owned land in Haakon County about 15 miles north of Philip, which is about 85 miles east of Rapid City. Plans call for up to 87 turbines and up to seven miles of electrical transmission lines.
"The Haakon County Commissioners put together a Road Use Agreement for the company that is proposing this project, ” said County Commissioner Adam Roseth. “We hope we can have a solid agreement for the guarantee of responsibility for those working on Haakon County land."
According to the application, the project would create about 200 construction jobs and 12 long-term jobs. Over 30 years, the company anticipates more than $85 million in payments to landowners, over $50 million in property taxes, and over $10 million in state and local sales taxes.
Power from the project would be delivered into the Southwest Power Pool, which the application says faces a regional electric capacity shortfall later this decade. The Southwest Power Pool is a nonprofit corporation tasked by the federal government with managing the electrical grid and wholesale power market in many of the Great Plains states.
"Those companies behind this have been working on the wind farm for many years, from the sign up of landowners to test drilling in the spots to place the turbines,” said County Commissioner Alan Rislov. "Approximately a year ago we worked on the Road Use Agreement in commissioner meetings. They (Philip Wind Partners) have drilled many spots, testing the ground within the project map area,” noted Rislov. 
Philip Wind Partners said it situated turbine locations to avoid unbroken prairie grasslands and avoid sites near prairie grouse mating spots. The Western Area Power Administration has completed an environmental review of the project, issuing a finding of no significant impact.
The commission will review the application over the coming months. If approved, construction could begin as early as next year, with operations beginning by 2027.
There will be a meeting hosted by the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, in Philip on October 2nd, for public-input at the local American Legion Post 173, located at 709 W. Pine Street, at 5:30 p.m. MT.
The purpose of the public input meetings will be to receive local input regarding the application and the project. The meeting will include a brief presentation about the project and people can then present their views, make comments, and ask questions regarding the application.
In March, Invenergy was awarded a permit for a 260 megawatt, 68-turbine project in northeastern South Dakota called the Deuel Harvest Wind Energy South. The “south” in that project’s name distinguishes it from the 109-turbine Deuel Harvest Wind Farm, which Invenergy completed in 2021 and sold to Atlanta-based Southern Power.
South Dakota ranks 13th in the nation with about 3,500 megawatts of installed wind energy capacity, according to the American Clean Power Association.