National Wind, LLC, A Trishe Group of Company, is a

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

company founded in 2003 that is a developer of large-scale, community-based

wind energy Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...

projects. The company, along with National Wind Assessments, has 50 employees based in

, MN and

Grand Forks Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

. National Wind claims to be the nation's leading developer of community-based

wind farms Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

Community-based model

National Wind operates under a community-based

business model A business model describes how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners from 45 countries, self-published, 2010 in economic, social, ...

. Each

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

project is structured as its own

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

(LLC) and is formed as a partnership between National Wind and local community members and

landowners In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "tenir" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land owned by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individual ...

. Although National Wind is generally the developer and manager of its wind projects, it shares ownership of each project company with members of the communities where the wind farm is located. National Wind highlights the benefits of the community model, saying that community ownership benefits local economies along with the environment. National Wind's business model differs from the structure of most other wind developers. Traditionally, when a company builds a wind farm, they become the sole owners of the development. The owners of the land where the farm is built tend to have minimal involvement with projects developer. In the traditional model, landowners do not own shares of the wind project, but instead are either paid a monthly lease or given

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...

from the sale of

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

. On the other hand, National Wind's model aims to share both revenue and influence within local communities.

Projects

National Wind develops and manages wind farms that produce, at minimum, 50

megawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Watt ...

renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

. Most of the company's developments are located in the

Midwestern The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, and

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. Currently, National Wind has twelve families of utility-scale wind projects in development or operation. *Emmet County Energy LLC (NorthStar Wind Farms) – Formed in 2005, so-called NorthStar wind project is a 250 megawatt development. The development is located in Emmet County and

Dickinson County Dickinson County is the name of three counties in the United States: * Dickinson County, Iowa * Dickinson County, Kansas * Dickinson County, Michigan See also * Dickenson County, Virginia Dickenson County is a county located in the Commonw ...

. The acquisition of a right of way for a short transmission line to connect the project with the grid in

Jackson, Minnesota Jackson is a city and county seat of Jackson County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,299 at the 2010 census. History Jackson was originally called Springfield, and under the latter name was laid out in 1856. A post office calle ...

has been completed. *M-Power LLC – Formed in 2006, M-Power is a 169.5 megawatt family of projects located in

Griggs County Griggs County is a county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,306. Its county seat is Cooperstown. History The county was created by the Dakota Territory legislature on February 18, 1881, with territo ...

and Steele County,

. M-Power is North Dakota's largest community-owned wind energy development to date.**National Wind completed its involvement in April 2009 and is no longer associated with M-Power. *High Country Energy LLC – Formed in 2007, High Country Energy is a 300 megawatt project located in Dodge County and Olmsted County,

. *Jeffers Wind Energy Center – Located in

Cottonwood County Cottonwood County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,517. Its county seat is Windom. History The county was created on May 23, 1857, named for the river in Germantown Township ("cottonwoo ...

, construction of the first 50

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), ...

phase was completed in 2008 and turbines are generating electricity. National Wind no longer retains an ownership interest in the Jeffers project. *Dakota Wind Energy LLC – Also formed in 2007, Dakota Wind Energy is National Wind's largest planned development. The project, located in

, it the state's first large-scale community wind project at 750 megawatts. *Root River Energy LLC – Formed in 2008, Root River Energy is a 300 megawatt family of developments in Fillmore County,

. *Lake Country Wind Energy – A 340-megawatt family of wind projects formed in 2008 in Meeker County and Kandiyohi County, Minnesota. *NECO Wind – Colorado's largest community wind development, NECO Wind is developing 650 MW of wind energy in Northeast Colorado in Sedgwick County, Phillips County, and

Logan County Logan County is the name of ten current counties and one former county in the United States: * Logan County, Arkansas * Logan County, Colorado * Logan County, Idaho (1889–1895) * Logan County, Illinois * Logan County, Kansas * Logan County, K ...

. *Goodhue Wind – The 78-megawatt community wind project is being developed by National Wind in Goodhue County, Minnesota. *Red Rock Wind Energy – Many of the community members involved in Emmet County Energy decided to capture more of the potential wind energy in Emmet County and

and formed Red Rock Wind Energy in 2008 to develop another 300 MW of wind energy in the two

counties. *Little Rock Wind – A 150-megawatt family of community wind projects in Big Stone County, Minnesota.Little Rock Wind To Develop Utility-Scale, Community Wind Farms
/ref> *Northwest Ohio Wind Energy – Northwest Ohio Wind Energy formed in early 2009 after a local community group previously organized as Ohio Wind Energy, LLC, partnered with National Wind to develop 300 MW of community-based wind in

Paulding County Paulding County is the name of two counties in the United States of America: * Paulding County, Georgia * Paulding County, Ohio Paulding County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was about 18 ...

and

Van Wert County Van Wert County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,931. Its county seat is Van Wert. The county was created in February 12, 1820 and later organized on March 18, 1837. It is named for I ...

in northwest Ohio. *Norfolk Wind Energy – Farmers in Renville County, Minnesota, partnered with National Wind in early 2009 to develop 40 megawatts or more of community-based wind energy.

Assessment division

National Wind Assessments, a subdivision of National Wind LLC, specializes in the planning, permitting, and overall design of wind farms. Based in North Dakota, the assessment team analyzes potential wind farm sites using met tower installation, wind data acquisition, and environmental impact studies.

Media attention

Over the last few years, National Wind has garnered attention from a variety of local and national media outlets. On February 22, 2008,

’s largest newspaper, the

Star Tribune The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...

, featured National Wind on the cover of the business section. National Wind has also been featured in Twin Cities Business, the

Lincoln Star The ''Lincoln Journal Star'' is an American daily newspaper that serves Lincoln, Nebraska, the state capital and home of the University of Nebraska. It is the most widely read newspaper in Lincoln and has the second-largest circulation in N ...

, and various other local publications. CEO Leon Steinberg, representing one America's "leading wind-energy developers," was also cited in a July 2008 U.S. News & World Report article on the importance of the federal

production tax credit A tax credit is a tax incentive which allows certain taxpayers to subtract the amount of the credit they have accrued from the total they owe the state. It may also be a credit granted in recognition of taxes already paid or a form of state "disc ...

for the growing industry.

References

External links

National Wind websiteNational Wind Assessments
{{Wind power Renewable resource companies established in 2003 Wind power companies of the United States Companies based in Minneapolis Energy cooperatives Cooperatives in the United States 2003 establishments in Minnesota American companies established in 2003