About White Birch Wind
Apex Clean Energy is exploring the feasibility of constructing White Birch Wind, a wind energy project located in rural Renville County, Minnesota. Based on transmission capacity and local wind data, White Birch Wind has the potential to generate more than 200 megawatts of clean, homegrown southwest Minnesota energy, enough to power over 70,500 U.S. homes.
Apex is working with local landowners, community leaders, and various stakeholders to design a project that fits with the community and complements the agricultural heritage of the area. The project site has several key attributes, including:
- Verified wind resource
- Expansive private land
- Strong community spirit
- Minimal environmental impacts
A Clean Economic Opportunity for Renville County
Using an innovative, community-based lease that spreads the financial benefits from the project more broadly among landowners, White Birch Wind will create jobs and generate an entirely new source of long-term revenue for the county, law enforcement, parks, townships, and property owners. The total direct financial impact to the community will be in the tens of millions of dollars over the life of the project, with additional indirect economic benefits to the local economy through construction and operations.
Landowners participating in the project will receive annual payments over the projected 30+ year lifespan of the wind farm, injecting millions of dollars into the local economy to support local merchants, contractors, equipment suppliers, auto dealers, and others. The power from White Birch Wind will be delivered directly onto Minnesota’s electrical grid, reducing the need to import electricity from outside markets.
Local Economic Benefits
- Enough power for more than 70,500 U.S. homes (200 MW+)
- Hundreds of jobs and significant local spending during construction
- Up to 15 full-time jobs and other local contracts during operations and maintenance
- Taxpayers protected against decommissioning costs
- More than 30 years of annual revenue for county, landowners, and township government services, totaling tens of millions of dollars
* Estimated payments and jobs over life of project