About The Project
Invenergy began developing the Deuel Harvest Wind Farm in 2015. All due diligence studies have been completed, lease agreements are finalized and the tentative project boundary and layout has been set. Current efforts are focused on concurrently obtaining the county and state permits necessary to build the project.
The Deuel Harvest Wind Farm represents a $150 million investment in
the local and state economy over the life of the project - nearly $125
million of which will directly benefit Deuel County through
participating landowner lease payments, new tax revenue and operations
and maintenance staff wages.
South Dakota has an amazing wind resource and 30% of the electricity in South Dakota is generated by wind - which makes it the state with the 4th highest share of wind energy generation. In part, South Dakota's electricity bills have remained well below the national average due to this abundance of wind energy.
The Deuel County Wind Farm is an unparalleled development opportunity for Deuel County, with millions to be invested in the local economy over the life of the project. We selected Deuel County for this project after intense and careful evaluation due to the:
We take serious our commitment to our local host communities and look forward to continuing to work closely with Deuel County, contributing to the area's economic development, and to providing an additional supply of clean, homegrown energy in South Dakota.
To avoid and minimize impacts to wildlife and other natural resources, we work with state and federal agencies and other interested stakeholders to site, build, and operate our facilities responsibly. The cornerstone of that effort is our commitment to act in accordance with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Land-based Wind Energy Guidelines, which includes robust pre-construction wildlife and habitat surveys, early and often communication with wildlife agencies, and operational monitoring to ensure risk to wildlife is minimized.
All County roads and infrastructure will be left in the same or better condition than they were prior to their use for the construction or on-going maintenance and repair of a wind energy project, and that such repairs will be completed at no cost to Deuel County. Invenergy will work directly with the county road supervisor on a "Road Use Agreement" to ensure this.
Wind turbines and access roads have a very small footprint, typically less than 1 acre of land is used per turbine. Approximately 98-99% of land will remain in agricultural use, allowing wind energy to support the agricultural industry and landowners to continue harvesting their land.
Deuel County's Wind Energy Ordinance requires the creation of a Decommissioning Plan and accompanying fund for use in the unlikely event that a wind project must be taken down before the end of its useful life.