The first five of 43 wind turbines at ALLETE Clean Energy's Thunder Spirit wind farm have begun generating electricity.
Spokeswoman Amy Rutledge says the rest of the turbines should be online within the next couple of weeks. The Thunder Spirit wind farm will generate 107 megawatts of wind power for customers of Montana-Dakota Utilities. Rutledge says the wind farm is near the community of Hettinger, which became very involved in the installation.
"We had a great community even back in August where we had folks come out and actually sign one of the big blades that then was later put up on one of the first turbines up in the air. We just appreciate the tremendous support and relationships we've built up with this great community during this project."
Construction of the turbines began in May of this year and everything has been on schedule. Rutledge says MDU customers will begin using electricity from the wind farm in December. She says about 17 miles of new roads have been built, along with 25 miles of underground cable to be used to collect power for transmission.