Montana-Dakota to build wind generation in Montana

Attached is a recent news story on new wind farm being built by MDU http://www.mdu.com southeast of Baker, Mt. This project is being built quickly with the first planning just started last November. MDU needs power for the growing oil industry in that area. It will probably bring in 100 construction jobs and two permanent jobs to the Baker area. This will be our first wind farm in this region. There is a lot of interest by wind developers in this region right now.

Mike Carlson, Coordinator

Eastern Plains RC&D, Inc.

Sidney, Mt.

Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. http://www.mdu.com recently announced that we will build a 20-megawatt wind farm near Baker, Montana. We’ll call the project Diamond Willow Wind.

The diamond willow is found along water courses throughout Montana. Strong and durable, the diamond willow played an important historical role in filling the construction and furniture needs of early settlers. The wood is also favored by carvers and woodworkers due to the distinct diamond marking left when branches are removed.

Diamond Willow Wind will go on line in late 2007. It will be made up of 13 towers, each with a capacity of 1.5 megawatts. In order to efficiently use the wind resource, the towers will be spaced strategically over two sections of land approximately seven miles south of Baker. We plan to increase the wind farm’s capacity to a minimum of 30 megawatts by 2014.

We chose the site near Baker because it was the best fit for Montana-Dakota and our customers. Eastern Montana has an excellent wind resource. The characteristics of the wind, and the performance of the wind turbines, will complement our existing generation in the area.

Diamond Willow is not our first attempt to build a wind farm. On two separate occasions we have contracted for wind energy from planned projects only to have the developers fail to construct the facilities. By developing Diamond Willow ourselves, we are assured of its completion.

Diamond Willow will also help Montana-Dakota meet the Montana and North Dakota renewable resource objectives. The state of Montana requires that 5 percent of energy delivered to meters be renewable by the end of 2008, 10 percent by 2010 and 15 percent by 2015.

Once on-line, we believe the wind farm will employ two people whose jobs will be to perform general mechanical and electrical maintenance on the towers. The employees will be required to have technical skills and mechanical ability.

Montana-Dakota is interested in wind energy because it can serve as a supplement to our fossil fuel-fired power plants. Wind energy is clean energy and is becoming competitive in price with traditional generation sources. In a world that is concerned about carbon dioxide emissions, wind energy is becoming more and more popular with utilities like Montana-Dakota. And with wind turbine technology improving all the time, wind power will prove to be a vital part of Montana-Dakota’s future generation portfolio.

Bruce Imsdahl
President and CEO
Montana-Dakota Utilities Co.