Will there be wind energy on a wide scale in Lincoln County? We won't know until the new year.

On Tuesday night, the Lincoln County Commission tabled a proposal that would prevent a wind turbine from being built within three quarters of a mile from homes in the county. The group will revisit the issue on February 7, 2016.

Brian Minish of Dakota Power Community Wind supports the potential of a project which will be tucked away in the southern townships and allow the landowners to diversify their income potential.

“The only place we are going to have a wind farm is in going to be in the big hills northeast of Beresford. The other areas don’t have enough wind to support a wind farm. Those landowners have an opportunity to earn right around $10,000 a year from a wind turbine. If they could get two or three on their farm, that’s a pretty significant amount of revenue for a farmer especially with 3 dollar corn.”

Leading up to the Tuesday night meeting, Minish said they have offers to deliver the energy those turbines would produce.

“Just a few weeks ago Xcel had a request for proposal for some additional wind power. We have a 400 megawatt on their desk right now to provide power to just east of Sioux Falls from our wind farm so it would be local. That’s so important because today’s economy to a large extent is being driven by renewable power.”

By instituting a three-quarter mile setback, only 500 acres in southern Lincoln County would be eligible for wind generation.


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