South Dakota Wind Farm Completed

North Dakota-based Basin Electric has announced that the last turbine of the $363-million Crow Lake Wind Project just east of Chamberlain, S.D., was commissioned Feb. 27 and the entire project is now fully operational. Read more...

Lugar Urges Keystone Approval

The latest support for the Keystone XL pipeline came yesterday from Sen. Richard Lugar, the leading Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Lugar said the pipeline is critical to U.S. energy security and urged the State Department to promptly approve the permit required for the project to proceed.

Meanwhile, the Natural Resources Defense Council has released a report highlighting what the group says are the safety risks relating to transporting oilsands crude through pipelines. TransCanada Corp., the Keystone XL project developer, stated the safety considerations relating to oilsands crude were no different than those for crude oil currently being distributed across the U.S. Read more...

Hyperion Gets Permit Extension

Texas-based Hyperion Resources reportedly has received preliminary approval from South Dakota authorities to extend the construction start date for its proposed oil refinery to next year. The $10 billion project to be located near Elk Point would process 400,000 barrels of Canadian tar sands crude oil daily into a variety of petroleum products and include a facility to produce electricity for on-site power.

http://www.ksfy.com/Global/story.asp?S=14042267

USDA Announces Loan Guarantee for SD Wind Farm

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2011 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the selection of Basin Electric Power Cooperative to receive a loan guarantee to construct over 100 wind turbines to produce 151.5 megawatts of electricity. When completed the turbines will join the cooperative's other electric generation projects to meet the needs of 2.8 million customers served by 135 distribution systems in nine states. The loan guarantee will provide financing for engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning of the PrairieWinds wind farm energy project in central South Dakota.

Read more...

Transmssion Line Approved by Minnesota PUC

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission last week approved the final section of a 250-mile  transmission line  that would carry wind power from Brookings County, South Dakota to the Twin Cities. The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission approved the 10.6-mile section in South Dakota last month.

http://www.argusleader.com/article/20110208/NEWS/102080331/1001/rss01

Third Biggest Corn Crop in South Dakota

The 2010 South Dakota corn crop harvest finished at 569.7 million bushels, according to USDA figures--the state’s third-largest crop on record.  Final state corn yields came in at 135 bushels per acre.  Record ethanol production is projected to use roughly 100 million bushels of the total production. Read more...

South Dakota Wind Farm Update

Construction continues at the community-based wind farm near Wessington Springs, South Dakota. The facility will consist of 108 turbines, of which 86 have been installed. A total of 611 area investors have put up $16 million to own seven of the turbines. North Dakota's Basin Electric will own the remaining 101 units in the facility, which is scheduled to be completed in April. Developers say the wind farm is the first of its kind in the country. Read more...