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Wind turbines are generating electricity and money in one of Minnesota's poorest counties. Phase two of NSP's wind farm on Buffalo Ridge is finished and will be dedicated September 26 with a ceremony in Lake Benton. Although California is by far the nation's largest wind energy producer, the southwest Minnesota project is the largest single wind farm ever built.

THE TOWN OF LAKE BENTON is the locket in a necklace of wind turbines that stretch northwest and southeast of the community. The machines follow the crest of Buffalo Ridge, the soil and stone wave left in the wake of a long gone glacier. Some of the wind machines are twenty stories tall and their long blades chop the air with methodical precision while the turbine whines.

One of the machines is on the Donald Prosch farm. A hay field surrounds the turbine and cows wander nearby.

Prosch: Well, I think they're the most wonderful thing that happened. Because the wind is free and it's forever. That's the best part.

Prosch and his wife Leona like to call it "their" wind turbine, the only one on their property. Donald asked only half in jest whether a big "p" could be painted on thei machine to let the world know whose land it's on. He marvels at the massive below-ground concrete slab anchoring the slender steel tube which supports the blades.

Prosch: What amazed me about it is I questioned why they're building them so tall. In this windy country, I said they maybe could tip over. I know why they're tall, because we can see 'em rotating when there's hardly no wind on the ground.

The wind farm was built by Enron Wind Corporation under an agreement with Northern States Power which will buy the electricity. It's the biggest step yet toward NSP's obligation to produce enough wind electricity by 2002 to power some 140,000 homes. Under a 1994 legislative agreement NSP also agreed to produce biomass electricity. The first biomass project is based in Granite Falls and it will use alfalfa as fuel to produce electricity. In exchange for the wind and biomass projects, NSP was allowed to store nuclear waste in above-ground casks at its Prairie Island plant in southeast Minnesota. NSP's entry into the wind business comes as new technology makes the industry more efficient. Much of those focus is on the blades of the wind turbine. They're being made out of lighter materials and being made more aerodynamic to catch every bit of wind. NSP energy marketing director Audrey Zibelman says the cost of wind production is dropping.

Zibelman: When we first started in wind we were talking about 10 - 12 cents a kilowatt hour. With these types of projects we've been able to reduce it down to a 3 - 4 cents a kilowatt hour, which is just tremendous.

That sharp drop makes some believe wind farms should blossom like spring flowers along Buffalo Ridge. Lincoln County economic development director Jim Nichols is one of them.

Nichols: How many things can we produce here that we can transport instantaneously to New York City? Someone can flick on their bathroom light in New York City in the middle of the night and the power came from Buffalo Ridge. Think about that. It isn't just what we can produce out here in rural Minnesota, it's how we can transport it and where we can transport it. I think the potential for wind energy is absolutely enormous.

Nichols says the midwest has the best wind patterns in the U.S. for large-scale production. But so far construction is slow. Outside of Minnesota the only activity in the midwest is in northern Iowa, where there are two wind farms planned. So far all phases of the NSP wind project have been or are being built in Minnesota, within a few miles of Lake Benton. However, bids are coming in now for the last phase of the project, and the utility holds out the possibility that it could be constructed in a neighboring state.

The downtown area of Lake Benton will not be at its best for the wind dedication. The streets are torn up for reconstruction. Mayor Marlin Thompson says when work is done, the downtown will have a wind energy theme, including one special crossroads.

Thompson: This intersection will be made of concrete but imbedded in that concrete will be the replica of the wind tower's blades, which will be in a red concrete. Along with that we'll have historic lighting standards downtown and on those standards will be banners which will also have a replica of the wind tower.

Thompson says the wind projects have been a boost for the town's economy and believes tourism will increase as people target Lake Benton for a stop to view the turbines. In addition, the county now collects property tax money from the wind farms, which could eventually bring in several million dollars a year. The amount is significant enough that the county is currently debating with the power generators over just how much the county's tax cut should be.