The Western Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (WMMPA) recently executed agreements to purchase the Marshall Wind Farm, which has a total generation capacity of 18.9 megawatts.
For the past 12 years, the output of the Marshall Wind Farm has been purchased by Missouri River Energy Services (MRES) as a resource to meet the needs of its member-owners. MRES had approximately eight years remaining on 20-year purchase power agreements that began in December 2007. The wind farm is located near Marshall, Minn.
WMMPA provides financing for, and is the owner of, all electrical generation and transmission facilities used by MRES to serve its 61-member municipal electric utilities in the states of Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
Since the inception of the Marshall Wind Farm, WMMPA has owned and maintained the interconnection facilities to connect the project to the Marshall Municipal Utilities (MMU) distribution system. MMU is one of the member-owners of MRES.
The purchase of the project is expected to lower the cost of this resource to MRES and its members.
MRES and WMMPA have a power supply agreement under which MRES is entitled to the output of all facilities owned by WMMPA. They also have an agreement under which MRES provides all administrative services on behalf of WMMPA, which is made up of most of the Minnesota members of MRES.
MRES is an organization of 61 member municipalities in the states of Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Each member owns and operates a municipal electric utility. MRES provides its members with energy and a wide range of energy-related services.
