Powering with Wind
Missouri River Energy Services (MRES) and our member communities are uniquely situated to take advantage of wind because of our geographical location. In a few short years, we've gone from no wind resources to an energy portfolio with more than 86 megawatts (MW) dedicated to clean, renewable wind. In fact, about nine percent of the energy we supply to our members will be derived from non-hydroelectric renewable resources, more than we need to meet present statutory requirements.
MRES has five wind projects in its renewable energy portfolio. We built our first wind farm in 2002 near Worthington, Minnesota, that consisted of two 900-kilowatt turbines. In 2003, we added two 950-kilowatt turbines at the same site. In 2007, we signed an agreement with wind developers to purchase the output from an 18.7-MW wind project near Marshall, Minnesota, and a 20-MW project near Odin, Minnesota. Combined, the projects can power about 13,300 homes. In March 2020, we purchased the Marshall Wind Farm.
The most recent additions are the Rugby Wind Project (North Dakota) and the Hancock Wind Project (Iowa). The Rugby Wind Project includes 71 2.1-MW wind generators with a total capacity of 149 MW. MRES contracted for 40 MW of capacity from the facility, which is enough to power as many as 11,000 homes. MRES is entitled to 3.3 megawatts of energy from the Hancock project.