N.D. wind farm is largest in U.S. owned by a co-op

A North Dakota rural electric cooperative completed the largest cooperative-owned wind farm in the country just before the new year. Basin Electric Power Cooperative's 77-turbine wind farm is located near Minot and Max and is the first step toward achieving the company's goal of meeting 20 percent of its current member load with renewable energy by 2010, The Bismarck Tribune reports.

Basin Electric's membership passed a resolution in 2005 for 10 percent of the company's electricity to come from renewables, but the company has chosen to double that requirement. The Minot-Max wind farm combined with the company's other renewable projects should generate 600 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 175,000 homes, by the end of the year. Verendrye Electric Cooperative of Velva, N.D., is also a working partner in the Minot-Max project. (Read more)