As Walleye Wind nears approval, local businesses plan for opportunities

NextEra Energy Resources is planning construction of 40 wind turbines over 49 square miles (31,000 acres) in the townships of Beaver Creek, Luverne, Martin and Springwater.
If the Walleye Wind Farm, as it’s called, clears final approval with the Public Utilities Commission, more than 200 workers will converge on western Rock County starting as early as September.
A meeting at the Luverne Chamber office last week addressed challenges and opportunities for local businesses during that construction period. For example, workers will need food and lodging, in addition to other basic services.
“We’ve seen some really unique economic business propositions in communities where we’ve built these projects,” said project developer Mike Weich at the April 28 meeting.
“It could be something as simple as 200 construction workers will probably need a place to do their laundry.”
If the project gets PUC approval, a construction meeting will be scheduled for later this summer to prepare local leaders and businesses for what to expect when wind farm construction begins.
“If you have a business or you have something locally that you know will help these construction workers as they come through, if there are things, that’s when we kick off those coordinations.”
He said he will work with Chamber Director Jane Wildung Lanphere to connect the community with the construction managers in order to prepare for their needs.
After Wednesday’s meeting, Lanphere said her office has done as much as possible to prepare local businesses for the influx of wind turbine workers. But until that meeting is scheduled, she said it’s difficult to focus particular resources.
“It’s really hard to do that because they have to first get approval to move forward,” Lanphere said.
“My plan is to use the visitor pass and do a better job marketing that to all the businesses, and not create something new.”
As part of construction, the existing MinnWind turbines will be decommissioned and removed, with foundations removed down to 4 feet below grade.
NextEra Energy Resources, based in June Beach, Florida, is the developer of the Walleye Wind Farm project.
NextEra filed for the site permit and certificate of need in July 2020. An environmental impact hearing was conducted in December 2020 with the final report completed in March 2021.
The report is available on the PUC website, mn.gov/puc.
The deadline for submitting written comments is 4:30 p.m. Friday, May 14.
Long-term, there will be four to six full-time wind technicians hired to manage the site; also there will be support-type jobs related to roads and maintenance that will be sourced locally.