NEW ROCKFORD, N.D. — Dennis Hegland, a retired farmer, used to grow wheat, beans and corn on his Eddy County farm. Soon, he expects to see three wind turbines dotted across his land.
Pointing to the snow-covered horizon past his barn, he motioned to where he expects the turbines to stand.
Living just outside of New Rockford, Hegland isn’t worried about the turbines causing disruptions, as they’re required to be a certain distance from occupied farmsteads.
“The closest one here is like a quarter mile,” he said.
Announced Jan. 15, the Flickertail Wind Farm is planned to include at least 90 turbines across Wells and Eddy counties in northern North Dakota, in the vicinity of New Rockford and Sheyenne. Eventually, the site could see up to 108 turbines, said Alex Ingulsrud, senior project developer at PRC Wind. The idea for the project grew from the local level as a collaboration between community members and New Rockford’s economic development board, now called the New Rockford Area Betterment Corporation. New Rockford Mayor Stuart Richter, who joined the effort soon after it began, said the project will be a boon for the town.
“I was one of the original supporters of it, investors of it,” he said. “We’re moving forward very nicely and (PRC has) done an awful lot of work. We’re excited to get it going.”
Residents have been mostly supportive, said Amanda Hegland, executive director of the New Rockford Area Betterment Corporation. There are some who don’t like the change – a few also have voiced dissent against recent water and street projects – but Hegland believes that comes from fear of the unknown. On a recent visit to New Rockford to talk with residents, a Grand Forks Herald reporter did not find anyone against the project.
“We have a lot of people that support the project,” Hegland said. “The people who oppose it always seem to be the loudest. I hear good things, because I do think the majority of New Rockford wants to see it be progressive. They want to see our school stay open. They want to see things keep happening.”
Added City Auditor Andrew Presnell: “I think they want to see it grow.”
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When the project was announced on Jan. 15, a joint release from Minnkota Power and PRC said "the project is expected to inject approximately $100 million directly into the local community and create 300 jobs during construction."
New Rockford-area landowners will benefit financially from hosting turbines on their land, although Ingulsrud declined to divulge the amount, saying it's a private number that can be influenced by the productivity of the project. A search among various sites online shows that landowners nationwide can earn anywhere from approximately $2,000 to $14,000 per year per turbine.
The project will grow Minnkota Power’s wind energy capacity, said CEO Mac McLennan. The Grand Forks-based company will be purchasing the energy generated by the Flickertail project. At present, Minnkota’s wind power makes up more than 30% of the company’s energy; McLennan said the Flickertail Wind Farm will bring that up to 50%.
McLennan believes wind will continue to be an energy resource in the coming years, and Minnkota sees Flickertail as a long-term investment past 2060. However, he predicts the production of wind farms in the state might become more limited in the future as the market fatigues, for two reasons.
One is that there may come a point when there is greater saturation than people are comfortable with, which McLennan said happens with all infrastructure. On the west side of the state, he has noticed some pushback and pressure on the idea of putting in more wind farms.
The other has to do with the capacity of wind and its performance. Across the upper Midwest – or at least in North Dakota – when the wind doesn’t blow it tends to be consistent across the full geography of the region. When wind falls off, all wind farms lose it; when it’s blowing, all wind farms get it.
The lack of diversity could limit how many more wind farms can be put on the system and have value, McLennan said.
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“Are all those things going to happen tomorrow or the next day or the next year or the next three years? Probably not,” he said. “But the long-term trend will be, short of some technological change, you’re going to run into challenges at some point around what is the ability of wind to perform inside of the marketplace.”
North Dakota ranks No. 7 nationally for the most wind capacity – at 31% of electricity production coming from wind – according to 2020 data on the North Dakota Department of Commerce website. The wind industry provides $12 million in local and state tax revenue to North Dakota, and provides an additional $20 million to $30 million in extra income to landowners. As of 2021, more than 4,000 megawatts of wind capacity have been installed in the state, with an interest in an additional 6,200 MW to be installed in the future, the website said. At present, more than 2,200 wind turbines are operating in North Dakota.
Minnkota’s Infinity Renewable Energy Program resulted in the first two commercial-scale wind turbines being built near Petersburg and Valley City. The company gets its wind energy from Infinity, Langdon Wind Energy Center, Ashtabula Wind Energy Center and Oliver III Wind Energy Center. Its total nameplate generating capacity (energy generation under ideal conditions) is 457 megawatts.
The Flickertail project, according to PRC’s website, proposes the generation of 400 megawatts, enough to “power about 200,000 average homes annually.”
McLennan said he hopes the New Rockford project is well received. He’s optimistic about working with the community.
Residents have so far been great to work with, Ingulsrud said. Flickertail Wind, LLC, set up shop in New Rockford’s City Hall in November and has engaged with the community since then, taking part in fundraisers and sponsored events, as well as meeting with community members to talk about the project. Ingulsrud said PRC had 56 meetings in a recent four-day span.
Some community members have been skeptical about the project’s feasibility, especially considering the new presidential administration. Earlier this week, New Rockford residents Dale and Diane Rosenberg voiced concern over whether President Donald Trump’s decisions will make the Flickertail Wind Farm impossible.
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“I’m not so sure it’s going to fly because Trump said he’s going to cut off all the subsidies,” Dale Rosenberg said. “So, it might be … that it’s not going to happen. … They’re not feasible without government subsidies.”
Ingulsrud said Trump’s focus has been on offshore wind farms, and he doesn’t believe the administration plans to impede land-based wind projects. The project doesn’t rely on any federal land or permits, and he believes there won’t be any issues, though PRC is keeping an eye the administration’s plans.
“The wind industry really since 2018 has been completely cost competitive on its own,” he said. “So, all major forms of energy are heavily subsidized. And if those subsidies go away I think it’s something that we’ve designed this project to survive. We’re very confident that we’re going to continue to have a healthy, long future in this project regardless of what happens with the current administration.”
Amanda Hegland said PRC Wind has responded to resident concerns with confidence.
“I was not in these meetings, but I do know the PRC staff, when they had some of these community meetings with the different townships, people brought up these talking points that they’ve heard and they shut them down immediately,” she said. “And they had resources. They said, ‘here’s the stats.’ They have their stuff. A lot of the fear-mongering was debunked, I think, or can be debunked.”
Hegland said she’s excited for the wind farm, as it shows promise from an economic perspective. New Rockford doesn’t have oil or coal resources, so hopefully the city can grow off of the alternative energy wind provides, she said. There may be crews of 100 to 150 working on the construction of the wind farm, which would be big for the community through the lodging tax, city sales tax, eating at local restaurants and shopping at local stores.
The wind farm itself will also add jobs once it is established. A project like this is something New Rockford needs, Hegland believes.
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“I think this is going to be huge for our community,” she said. “I think it’s going to be huge for the school district. I just see positives from this.”
Presnell added, “I think any community would really kill for this type of project.”
Dennis Hegland, looking out over the snowy fields of his property, said it’s going to be good for the community and for people that need electricity.
“It’s a big deal,” he said.
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