It’s a lucky seven for National Wind, LLC, as the company has announced the formation of Little Rock Wind, LLC, its 7th Minnesota-based, community-owned wind energy company. The latest venture in Big Stone County will develop up to 150 megawatts of wind energy generation within the county.
This Little Rock Wind press release says the public will get a chance to find out more about the project when the company holds a public landowner meeting on Tuesday, March 17th, at 7:00 pm at the Clinton Memorial Building in Clinton, Minnesota:
“Little Rock Wind, as a locally owned wind energy company, is the sort of project that has the best interests of the landowners and farmer’s best interests at heart,” says Brent Olson, one of the founders and an advisory board member of Little Rock Wind, LLC. “We encourage landowners to attend the meeting, to hear the presentation, and learn how community wind development in Big Stone County can be a benefit to themselves and their community. Bringing this project to fruition will provide many economic benefits to us, our children, and our grandchildren while strengthening our local communities and providing a more stable energy future for us all.”
Little Rock Wind recently opened an office in Ortonville, Minnesota to better serve local landowners and to facilitate community involvement in the project…
An important first step in developing wind energy is securing the land needed to construct the wind projects. 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.
“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.” says Bill Smeaton, senior wind developer, National Wind. “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 board of advisor structure adds the ‘voice of the community’ to the development process.”
The projects will go online over the next five to seven years.