MinWin president Mark Willers said progress on the Beaver Creek wind towers is moving forward "at a good pace." The organization is currently getting bids on tower construction as well as other components of the project.Willers said the permitting process is also underway. MinWin is still completing the county zoning process but the rest has taken place. Because wind power is generally environmentally, friendly it’s not a complicated permitting process. "Wind towers are easy because they don’t need millions of gallons of water like a nuclear plant and they don’t discharge pollutants," Willers said.The seven new wind turbines will be built 2 1/2 miles north of Beaver Creek on more than two sections of land. Construction will begin sometime next spring depending on how the bid letting goes.Each of the new turbines will generate 1.65 megawatts per hour of electricity and will generate enough energy to service roughly 900 homes per year.Minwind is an off-shoot of the CornerStone Cooperative Board that started Agri-Energy Ethanol Plant in Luverne. A limited liability corporation, the Minwind groups are owned and controlled by local members, led by two, five-member boards.
