Infrastructure work commences at Ivester Wind Farm

After years of planning, delays and contentious debates over whether or not the Ivester Wind Farm should be legally permitted, work on the long-awaited project finally kicked off last week, and it should be completed by the end of 2018.
           
Civil crews with Mortenson Construction of Golden Valley, Minnesota, cleared a field directly south of the Ivester Church of the Brethren last Monday and Tuesday, and by Friday, electricians from Russell's Electric of Sioux Center were busy building a grid and running lines around the area. For the next several months, the dirt plot—complete with living quarters, port-a-potties and a convoy of trucks from a host of contractors and subcontractors—will serve as the project’s formal home base.
           
A superintendent with Mortenson told The Grundy Register that his guys would be clearing fields, building roads and performing other infrastructure-related tasks for most of the next month before the parts for the turbines themselves arrive sometime in September. Erection should begin in October.
           
Although there were just a handful of workers on the site Friday afternoon, the superintendent added that by the time the construction kicks into high gear, the number will be closer to 100. 
 
Read the full story in this week's Grundy Register. Subscribe by calling (319) 824-6958 or clicking here.