A spokesman for Basin Electric Power Cooperative says the co-op has a plan for decommissioning wind farms – and a plan to pay for it, should that need to happen.
The Public Service Commission has opened an investigation into those decommissioning plans. And the PSC could require bonds to help pay for the reclamation.
Basin has a big wind farm in the Minot area. Basin’s Daryl Hill says the co-op has spelled out its decommissioning plans in the permit it received for the wind farm.
"If at any time in the future, the wind park is not going to be used, then all the towers and everything associated with it must be taken down, and the land where they're sitting on must be reclaimed," said Hill.
For some of the towers on grasslands, Basin has a bond to pay for the clean up. But Hill says there's another aspect.
"For other towers, the salvage value of the equipment being decommissioned would probably more than cover the decommissioning costs," said Hill. "But if it didn't, then Basin would fund the difference."
Hill says Basin is in the wind power business for the long-term – so decommissioning won’t happen for a very long time.