The wind farm, known as the Spion Kop wind project, will be developed and constructed by a subsidiary of Compass Wind and is intended to be placed into utility rate-base for NorthWestern’s Montana electric retail customers.
In January 2011, NorthWestern signed a memorandum of understanding to buy a 24MW wind farm in central Montana from Compass and the company has increased the size of this Spion Kop wind project to 40MW.
The purchase price is $1,947 for each kW of the total nameplate capacity included in the project, which is equal to $77.88m.
Both the energy and associated renewable energy credits will be placed into the electric supply portfolio and used to meet future renewable portfolio standards obligations.
The purchase is conditioned on pre-approval of the project by the Montana Public Service Commission (MPSC) to include the project in NorthWestern’s rate base.
As part of this condition, NorthWestern has to submit its application to the MPSC for pre-approval of the project as an electricity supply resource.
If the MPSC fails to grant approval on or before 1 April 2012, then either party may terminate this agreement.
Construction of the wind farm will commence upon a favorable ruling, with commercial operation projected to begin by the end of 2012.
Compass Wind is a community focused wind energy developer in the western US.
