How many wind turbines will be erected in southern Lyon and northern Murray counties, what model of turbines will be used and how tall will they be? All these questions form a “complicated puzzle” that will help define the future of renewable energy in southwestern Minnesota. Representatives from Apex Clean Energy’s Box Car Wind project gave an update of the project to the Lyon County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday and at the same time, faced a litany of questions from board members.
To date, Box Car Wind has secured more 140,000 acres of land (about 80,000 in Lyon County and roughly 60,000 in Murray County) representing more than 1,200 leaseholders (450 families).
Drew Christensen, director of public engagement for Apex Clean Energy, said the project will result in about 255 turbines, but the size and final placement of those towers, as well as other infrastructure such as access roads has yet to be decided; that is part of the current project design piece.
“It’s a complicated puzzle,” Christensen said of what will end up being one of the largest wind energy projects in the state in terms of the amount of power generated (1,000 megawatts).
The current timeline has the first phase of state permitting with the Public Utilities Commission beginning in the spring of 2026, with initial construction beginning in 2027. The turbines are scheduled to be fully installed, tested and delivering power to the grid by 2028. The second phase of construction — mobilization, road, foundation and collection system construction — is slated for 2029, and Phase 2 of the commercial operation date is 2030.
One of the questions from the board involved the treatment of township roads and field tiles in the areas where turbines will go up. Traffic and construction can potentially negatively affect those two infrastructure pieces.
Commissioner Gary Crowley asked if landowners have any say in where new access roads will be placed. Christensen said Box Car Wind has worked with the landowners who have signed up and is flexible enough to accommodate all parties.
“That’s certainly something that we talk about during the leasing process,” Christensen said. “The roads are probably some of the least fussy items as far as exactly where they go from our perspective. “If they want it to be north-south or eastwest, it usually doesn’t make that big of a difference to us. We sit down individually with each landowner before we go into permitting.”
Christensen said negative experiences from the industry’s past wind projects have served as somewhat of a cautionary tale.
“We’re going to have to improve some of the roads, especially the gravel county and township roads that aren’t going to be able to take the weight that we bring with construction equipment,” he said. “We’ll have agreements on how we’re going to improve those roads — or widen roads in some cases. The roads should be in better condition when we’re done with the project.”
It’s unclear at this point what roads will be most affected by construction.
As far as tiles are concerned, there is a history of wind turbine projects leaving behind damaged tiles. But Christensen said, unlike crews who worked the area in year’s past, Box Car Wind employees not only appreciate the importance of the area’s tiling system but have been proactive in making sure tiles remain as undisturbed as possible.
“One, we know where all the tile lines are, and we’re trying to avoid them the best we can,” said Christensen. “We trench our lines, so we can actually see the tile lines. We essentially have the tile contractor trailing behind fixing the tiles as we’re putting our lines in. And we are obligated for the entire duration of the wind farm to fix broken tile and pay damages for any crop damaged based on a broken tile line.”
Christensen was also asked about the payback to counties and townships after the turbines are functioning. The amount of monies coming back to the area is dependent on where the towers end up going. Eighty percent of the money brought in will go to counties, and 20% to townships.
In other business Tuesday…
• The board approved a Conditional Use Permit for Alex Bakker for his planned feedlot expansion on Lyon County Road 2 in Lyons Township.
• The board declared a state of emergency for damage incurred last weekend at the Lakeview High School in Cottonwood.
• The board approved participation in the DNR Off-Highway Vehicle Safety Enforcement Grant. The Lyon County Sheriff’s Department has taken part in the grant for several years. The grant is allowing $5,026.62 each year for two years.
