A company that is planning a wind power project across the North Dakota-South Dakota border wants to construct a 10-mile power line to connect the turbines to North Dakota’s electrical grid, state regulators say. The Public Service Commission on Wednesday accepted Tatanka Wind Power LLC’s letter of intent to build the Dickey County power line, which the company hopes to begin constructing in March. Company filings estimate the project’s cost at $7.3 million.

With all the wind in South Dakota, seeing more wind turbines on the horizon would only seem to make sense. Xcel Energy Spokesman, Kent Larson, says “As you all know South Dakota has been called the Saudi Arabia of wind with tremendous potential to provide clean, reliable energy to our customers. ” Thursday’s announcement of a new 150-Megawatt wind power project, set to share the border between South Dakota and Minnesota, is significant because that potential is slowly becoming reality. Gary Hanson, with South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, says, “This means the breaking of the ground and the pioneering on the eastern side is just going to grow exponentially.”

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Senator Tim Johnson says construction can proceed on a wind energy farm in the Brookings area. He says the Minn-Dakota wind farm would be the largest wind energy project in South Dakota.

AGENCY VILLAGE, S.D. (AP) - The Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate is moving forward with plans to develop a wind farm on tribal trust lands in northeast South Dakota. The tribe has hired the engineering and consulting firm Black and Veatch of Overland Park, Kan., to help develop the project. Three company representatives explained the plans at a community meeting Thursday. Interim tribal chairman Jerry Flute said he would like to see the project focus on producing electricity for local use.