An energy company has applied to construct another wind farm in northeastern South Dakota.

The company is Chicago-based Invenergy. It wants to build up to 68 turbines through its South Dakota subsidiary, Deuel Harvest Wind Energy South. The turbines would be spread across 54 square miles of privately owned land near the small town of Brandt in Deuel County. The project’s estimated cost is $621 million.

The “south” in the project’s name distinguishes it from the 109-turbine Deuel Harvest Wind Farm, which Invenergy completed in 2021 and sold to Atlanta-based Southern Power.

The new project would be located about six miles south of the existing Deuel Harvest wind farm. Another wind farm, Tatanka Ridge, is adjacent to the southwest edge of the proposed project area. If the new project is approved and built, it would raise the number of wind turbines in Deuel County to 233.

The new project could deliver up to 250 megawatts of electricity. South Dakota ranks 13th in the nation with 3,462 megawatts of installed wind energy capacity, according to the American Wind Power Association.

The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission issued a public notice Wednesday about Invenergy’s application. People with a direct interest in the project have until Aug. 27 to apply for “intervenor” status, which would allow them to participate in hearings, file motions, request facts or documents, and engage in other aspects of the permitting process.

The new application says Invenergy will not use eminent domain, which is a legal procedure to obtain land from unwilling landowners.

“South Deuel Wind has entered into long-term, voluntary lease and easement agreements for the placement of Project Facilities with private landowners within the Project Area,” the application says.

Invenergy estimates the project will generate payments to landowners totaling $78 million over the next 30 years, and property tax revenue generated for local governments will total $38 million during the same period. The project is expected to create 243 jobs during construction and eight long-term operational jobs.

While Invenergy was working on its previous project, some local residents challenged special exception permits issued to the company by Deuel County. The permits were ultimately upheld by the state Supreme Court.

Deuel Harvest Wind Energy South project map

The Deuel Harvest Wind Energy South project map. (Courtesy of South Dakota Public Utilities Commission)

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Update: 17-year-old Vevon McGee was located in Yankton Saturday around 6:15 pm, which is nearly 50 miles from where he went missing.

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The search is on for a missing person in Turner County. Tevon McGee went missing Friday night around 11:00 pm.

He is 17 years old and has the development of an 8-year-old.

He was last seen near Marion wearing the same shirt as the one on the missing poster.

The Turner County Sheriff’s Office and the other local rescue agencies are assisting with the search effort.

Those with information are asked to call the Turner County Sheriff’s Office at (605) 297-3225

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Enflamed railcars carrying hazardous material were mostly extinguished Saturday, a day after they derailed in a remote area of North Dakota.

Officials said Friday no one had been hurt. The threat to those living nearby remained low, according to county emergency management, which reported no air contamination in the area or downwind.

Twenty-nine cars of a CPKC train derailed around 3:45 a.m. in a marshy area surrounded by farmland that is about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northwest of Fargo, county emergency management director Andrew Kirking said.

Kirking said in a statement Saturday that the fire would still occasionally flare up as responders moved railcars from the tracks. But “firefighting operations through the night and morning have been incredibly successful,” he said.

Emergency officials now say the contents of the derailed cars included anhydrous ammonia, methanol and plastic pellets.

Bill Suess, spill investigation program manager for the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, identified ammonia as a potential risk, but wind was carrying the smoke away from the nearby town of Bordulac, which has about 20 residents.

“Wind has been in our favor on this,” Suess said Friday.

Exposure to high concentrations of ammonia in the air can cause burning of the eyes, nose, throat and respiratory tract, and can result in blindness, lung damage or death, health officials say. Exposure to lower amounts can result in coughing and irritation of the nose and throat.

CPKC said in a statement Friday that it has “initiated its emergency response plan and launched a comprehensive, coordinated response.”

The railroad was the result of a merger last year of Canadian Pacific Railway and Kansas City Southern.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Friday that it is investigating.