Xcel Plans to Restore Courtenay Wind Farm, 65 Turbines by Summer

Xcel Energy told Stutsman County commissioners it wants to bring 65 Courtenay Wind Farm turbines back into service by summer, a step that would matter far beyond the plant itself because the project drives tax revenue, landowner payments and road traffic in the county.

Adam Steadland, Xcel’s senior land agent, updated commissioners at the April 21 meeting on repairs tied to the June 2025 storms. The Courtenay site, which has 100 Vestas V100 turbines and a nominal capacity of 200 megawatts, was heavily damaged when severe weather swept through the region. Xcel has said the June 20, 2025 outbreak brought supercell thunderstorms, a derecho and widespread straight-line wind damage, and the company identified that event as the reason the wind farm and its substation went offline.

Only 13 of the turbines were operable when commissioners heard the update, leaving most of the farm idle months after the storm. Xcel has said the damage included 11 blade separations and 35 turbines left completely inoperable. The company cannot simply swap in new blades because Vestas no longer makes blades for the V100 model, which turns the repair into a repowering issue rather than routine maintenance.

That is why Xcel is seeking state approval to repower the site. The plan calls for removing 35 turbines, centralizing materials in a newly acquired lay-down yard and later sending blades to Oklahoma for recycling next year. Before the summer target can be met, the company still needs the approvals and logistics work that go with a major rebuild, including a county road-use permit. Township roads are expected to take some of the traffic as turbine materials are moved.

The county has already been tracking the project for weeks. A separate April 7 agenda listed an Xcel damages update, and commissioners also heard from Tony Grindberg at the Jan. 20 meeting. At that time, Xcel said 12 of the 100 turbines were operating and expected 65 turbines to be back online by the end of 2026. Grindberg also reviewed Xcel’s longer-term goal of becoming carbon-free by 2050.

The Courtenay work landed on the same April 21 agenda as New Leaf Energy’s update on the proposed Buffalo solar project in Fried Township, a 247-megawatt, $370 million proposal. Together, the two projects put Stutsman County in the middle of major land-use decisions that will affect roads, zoning, tax bases and nearby landowners for years. Xcel says wind facilities generate rural tax revenue, jobs and income for landowners, and restoring Courtenay would return those benefits to a site that has been largely silent since last summer’s storm.