Contact: Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, Daniel P. Wolf
Telephone: 651.201.2217
Fax: 651.297.7073

St. Paul, Minnesota - The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission met today to consider the Goodhue Wind Project proposed for development in southeastern Minnesota. The Commission voted 4-1 to seek additional information and recommendations from an Administrative Law Judge at the Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings. Specifically, the Commission is seeking additional information on the issue of county-based standards. Goodhue County approved more stringent standards for wind energy conversion systems on October 5, 2010 and submitted the ordinance into the Goodhue Wind Certificate of Need and siting records on October 13, 2010. Additional hearings by an Administrative Law Judge will allow the parties to develop a more complete record on the scientific basis for the county’s standards and examine whether the Commission should apply the county’s standards to this project or there is good cause not to do so. The Goodhue Wind project is a proposal by AWA Goodhue, LLC to build a 50-turbine, 78- megawatt wind facility in Goodhue County. The proposal encompasses an area of approximately 32,700 acres located just west of the city of Goodhue in the townships of Belle Creek, Goodhue, Minneola, Vasa, and Zumbrota. Energy produced by the facility will be sold to Xcel Energy. Goodhue Wind initially filed a request for the issuance of a Certificate of Need on October 15, 2009 and applied for a site permit for the project site on October 19, 2009. The merits of the project were the subject of four public hearings in the area conducted by the Office of Administrative Hearings on July 21 and 22, 2010. Final written orders formally documenting the Commission’s decisions will be issued in several weeks. Those orders will be filed in dockets IP6701/CN-09-1186 and IP6701/WS-08-1233, which are available on the Commission’s website via the Commission’s e-Dockets system.