Press Releases
|
February 13, 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jennifer Walz, Communications Director, (218) 299-5407
Christopher Reed, Energy Services and Marketing Director, (218) 299-5199
BID AWARDED FOR MOORHEAD’S SECOND WIND TURBINE
Moorhead Public Service (MPS) customers
who subscribed to MPS’s second Capture The Wind™ program are
one step closer to supporting clean, wind-generated energy. At
its last meeting on February 12, 2001, the Moorhead Public
Service Commission (PSC) awarded the bid for Moorhead Public
Service’s second 750-kilowatt wind turbine to N·E·G Micon®.
The Denmark-based firm, with manufacturing facilities in
Champaign, Illinois, has manufactured more than 9,300 turbines
worldwide.
Bids for MPS’s second wind turbine were
evaluated on experience, warranty, maintenance, cost of
operation, and installed cost. Although earlier estimates for
the project projected turbine costs at $729,000, N·E·G Micon®
was the lowest qualified bidder for the project, coming in with
a bid of $650,840. The second bid of $746,809 was submitted by
Vestas-American Wind Technology, Inc. Vestas® and N·E·G
Micon® are the world’s first and second largest manufacturers
of wind turbines, respectively.
"Our first Capture The Wind™ program
was a tremendous success. With the quick subscription of the
second turbine and with the low bid coming in from N·E·G
Micon®, it looks as though our second Capture The Wind™
program will be every bit as successful as the first," says
the utility’s general manager, Bill Schwandt. Moorhead Public
Service (MPS) plans to erect the second turbine on the northeast
edge of Moorhead, 1800 feet east of its first wind turbine.
Christopher Reed, director of energy services and marketing for
MPS, says, "We anticipate the groundbreaking for the
project will begin in the summer of 2001. If things continue to
go as planned, the second turbine should be generating
electricity by fall 2001."
*******
Moorhead Public Service (MPS) is a
customer-owned electric and water utility, serving more than 13,000 customers within a
community of over 32,000.
The Moorhead Public Service Commission is
comprised of customer-owners who govern the utility. Its five members are
appointed by both the Mayor and the City Council. The Moorhead Public Service Commission approves
the budget and establishes water and electric rates for
consumers.
|
