NSP Announces
Wind Bid Finalists

Northern States Power Co. (NSP) today announced that an independent bid evaluation firm selected four developers as finalists in NSP's competitive bid process to supply 100 megawatts (MW) of wind energy by mid-1999. The developers recommended for further evaluation are: Dominion World Power, Newport Beach, CA; Ecowest, San Diego, CA; Northern Alternative Energy Inc., Minneapolis, MN; and Zond Development Corp., Tehachapi, CA. [Note: Zond was later selected to construct this Phase III project near Lake Benton.]

This 100-MW project represents Phase III of the energy company's 425 MW of wind generation resources to be in place by the end of 2002. By the end of 1997, NSP plans to have 254 MW of wind generation under contract, said Audrey Zibelman, NSP's manager of energy resource planning. "NSP wind generation projects will constitute about 40 percent of all wind generation projects built in the United States in the next two years," she said. "This level of wind generation in our energy mix far surpasses any other utility's outside of California, and is indicative of NSP's increasing reliance on renewable energy to meet our customers' energy needs," Zibelman said.

"Our goal is to provide the most cost-efficient and reliable wind energy to NSP's customers, and the competitive bidding process is designed to accomplish that," Zibelman added.

Construction begins this year on NSP's 107 MW Phase II project and an additional 22 MW of smaller wind projects. The company's 25 MW Phase I project began operating near Lake Benton, MN, in 1994, after NSP initiated research efforts by installing three turbines in 1986.

The Tyler Tribute (April 24, 1997)

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