Chicago-based multinational Invenergy has built or is building over 210 energy projects, mostly in the U.S. but some in Mexico, Scotland, Poland, Spain, Uruguay, and Japan. Invenergy built the 300-megawatt, 109-turbine Deuel Harvest Wind Farm, northeast of Clear Lake, and sold that project to Southern Power in 2021. The company won approval from the Public Utilities Commission last March to build a 68-turbine, 260-megawatt wind farm, which should start cranking out power late next year.
Now Invenergy is ready to build a third wind farm in South Dakota, this one in West River:
The proposal from Philip Wind Partners, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Invenergy, would be in a 70,000-acre area of privately owned land in Haakon County about 15 miles north of Philip, which is about 85 miles east of Rapid City. Plans call for up to 87 turbines and up to seven miles of electrical transmission lines.
According to the application, the project would create about 200 construction jobs and 12 long-term jobs. Over 30 years, the company anticipates more than $85 million in payments to landowners, over $50 million in property taxes, and over $10 million in state and local sales taxes [Joshua Haiar, “Company Seeks State Approval for $750 Million Western SD Wind Farm,” South Dakota Searchlight, 2025.08.26].
Invenergy’s pitch #3 comes as the dictator in Washington gets rid of USDA incentives for wind and solar projects, ridiculously denying farmers the opportunity to diversify their cash flow by harvesting wind and solar power right alongside all that ethanol and biodiesel that seems not to bother the current D.C. regime.