Tatanka Wind Farm

The Tatanka Wind Farm is the largest wind electricity facility in the Dakotas, with 180-MW nameplate capacity. The project was developed by Acciona Wind Energy USA, and consists of 120 1.5-MW wind turbines, the first Acciona turbines of this size to be installed in the United States.

The facility has been declared eligible for use under the Protocol for Renewable Energy (read more about our Standards).

TerraPass funds help ensure an adequate financial return for the project and satisfy the expectation project developers had about the voluntary market supporting the project.

The project came online in July 2008.

Project details

The Tatanka Wind Farm straddles the North Dakota – South Dakota border in a very rural section of both states, close to Forbes, ND (pop. 64). Tatanka is the third major U.S. development – and the largest wind farm in North and South Dakota – from Spanish developer Acciona Energia, a global player in renewable energy. The facility was built and is managed by Acciona Wind Energy USA, LLC, one of Acciona group’s subsidiaries in North America.

Substantial environmental review was undertaken before the project received approval from state and federal agencies, including:

• Avian and Bat Surveys
• Grassland Vegetation Assessment
• Cultural Resource Inventory
• Additionally, Tatanka is the first wind farm to be installed on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grassland easements.

The wind farm is spread across 14,080 rural acres, with 61 turbines in Dickey and McIntosh County, North Dakota and 59 turbines in McPherson County, South Dakota. Roughly 250 people were employed during construction of 30 miles of access roads, 55 miles of underground electricity cables, a local facility substation, and a 13 mile, 230-kVA transmission line to connect the project to the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO).

Acciona spent approximately $381 million on the project, and began construction in April 2007. Financing for the project came from equity partnerships with GE Energy Financial Services and Wachovia Investment Holdings, LLC. The plant’s commercial online date (COD) was July 25, 2008.

Project location

The project is located near Forbes, North Dakota. The facility straddles the border between North and South Dakota.p>

Other social and environmental benefits and costs

Environmental benefits

• The project provides renewable energy to a region that relies on coal for 94% (ND) and 46.5% (SD) of its electricity generation, and has no Renewal Portfolio Standard (RPS) in place.
• Existing land use, including cattle ranching and crop cultivation, will continue alongside electricity generation at Tatanka.

Social benefits

• The project requires 21 new, permanent jobs in the area, and employed more than 250 people in the construction of the plant.

Project’s ability to foster further greenhouse gas emission reductions

• The size of the project was limited by the transmission capabilities of the supporting grid; an enhanced electricity grid infrastructure would allow for more large-scale wind developments in the Great Plains region.

Discussion of appropriate use of TerraPass funds

TerraPass considers many aspects of projects before deciding whether to fund them. Here is a summary of key considerations for this project.

Baseline conditions

As with all wind farms, the Baseline conditions are those of the surrounding public grid.

The facility is located in the MRO region of the National Electricity Reliability Council, and in the newly released Green-e Climate Protocol for Renewable Energy has a modeled carbon intensity of 1813 lbs CO2/MWh. We use this figure to determine the translation from MWh of electricity generated to pounds of CO2 reduced.

Additionality

No regulatory requirements.
Neither North nor South Dakota have requirements for renewable power. US wind not used to satisfy an RPS requirement is often considered additional by analysis of their aggregate economics and adoption profiles. This project meets the eligibility criteria of both Green-e Energy and Green-e Climate Renewable Energy (confirmation pending).

Barriers to implementation.
The electricity grid of the Midwestern United States is old and debilitated. Transmission capacity was a limiting factor in the design and construction of this wind farm. Without significant investment in the electricity infrastructure, large scale renewable energy projects like Tatanka will be constrained by grid limitations.

Impact of TerraPass funds.
TerraPass seeks projects where the funding from our purchases helps assure a positive financial outlook on the greenhouse gas emission reduction project. A review of the project’s documents showed clear expected revenues from environmental attributes at the time of launch, and the magnitude of environmental attribute revenues contributes to making the project economically viable compared to other sources of electricity.

Better than most.
TerraPass seeks projects where the operations have shown good practices and avoided substantial negative impacts. Tatanka Wind Farm utilized numerous environmental and cultural resource surveys to ensure effective conservation strategies were implemented in the construction and operation of the plant.