Company announces plans for wind farm near Grady

A Minnesota-based wind energy company announced Thursday plans to built a $30-million, 18-megawatt wind farm five miles south of Grady.

Patrick Pelstring, a spokesman for National Renewable Solutions LLC, said the company plans to install nine two- megawatt wind turbines that will generate enough electricity to power 5,000 homes. Construction for the project is expected to start by the end of August and is slated for completion by November.

The project, called Broadview Energy LLC., will generate between 30 to 50 construction jobs and two to three permanent positions.

The wind farm will deliver electricity through the Farmers' Electric Cooperative's transmission lines, which serves 12,600 customers.

"Our system, as it exists, will accept them," said Lance Adkins, Farmers' Electric Cooperative general manager.

Adkins said plans for the project began three months ago.

According to a National Renewable Solutions news release, the project is considered to be the first phase of a long-term plan to generate 500 megawatts of electricity in Curry County and neighboring Deaf Smith County, Texas. Pelstring said the expansion would create between 25 to 30 jobs.

"There's a limited amount of places we can deliver until Tres Amigas is operational," he said.

Tres Amigas is a proposed power substation to be built on 14,400 acres will be located northeast of Clovis that will connect the country's three largest power grids.

National Renewable Solutions project Developer Jesse Hopkins-Hoel said it is still too early to tell what economic impact the project will have.

Pelstring said the company will have an office in Grady and acquire space for parts storage.

Sweetwater, Texas, mayor Greg Wortham, who serves as executive director for Texas Wind Energy Clearinghouse, said economic impacts of wind energy projects include an increased tax base and a growth in ancillary jobs.

The Broadview project is National Renewable Energy Solution's fifth wind energy project with two in North Dakota and two in Minnesota.

Clovis Industrial Development Corp. Executive Director Chase Gentry said the project will be a catalyst to bringing other renewable energy projects to the county.

"We expect to have a significant impact to the community and to the land owners," he said. "That's what we've been working for in the last couple of years."