Residents of southern and western Minnesota know well the image of wind turbines along the horizon, but the jagged, manmade Iron Range landscape will soon see the slow rotation of these tall sentries.

Minnesota Power is building about 25 MW of electrical generation along overburden dumps outside Virginia and Mountain Iron on U.S. Steel land. If you've never been to the Iron Range, these are the large, red "mountains" that exist on the edges of all our Range cities. These giant formations were made by humans in the last 100 years of mining activity, essentially consisting of waste products from mineral extraction. Some of them, in combination with the Range's already high topography, achieve some high elevations making wind speeds much more conducive for wind power than most other parts of the region. The new wind farm is called "Taconite Ridge" and wind proponents like me envision hundreds of turbines eventually posted along the entire 130-mile ridge of the Iron Range. Take a look at one of my recent posts at MinnesotaBrown.

For those tuned into energy issues, it's interesting to note that Minnesota Power, the biggest coal burner in the state, has invested in two major renewable energy initiatives up north: this wind project and more than 200 MW in hydroelectric power from Manitoba. Both MP and Xcel are predicting no new coal generation to meet the energy needs of the next decade or two. That calls into question the claims of some developers who say that we need more coal in Minnesota. I'll explain more about that in a future post.

Read more at my northern Minnesota issues blog www.minnesotabrown.com.