COAL COUNTRY - Oliver County, home of BNI Coal and the Milton R. Young power plant, may join counties that are cranking out wind energy.

Florida Power and Light, developer of wind farms near Edgeley, Kulm and Wilton, will go to the Oliver County Planning and Zoning Commission at 7 p.m. Thursday for a conditional use permit to build a wind farm near the power plants at Center.

The company plans to set up a 50-megawatt farm - 33 wind towers - and sell the power to Minnesota Power of Duluth.

To get to Duluth, the power would be sent through the Square Butte terminal near the Young plant. At the terminal, it will be transformed from alternating to direct current, and then travel 465 miles on Minnkota Power Cooperative's transmission line.

The Square Butte transformer also is operated by Minnkota, which owns most of the capacity from the power plant at Center. Spokesman Mike Nisbet said Minnkota can accommodate the extra megawatts at the transformer and on the transmission line, though some upgrades may be needed.

An interconnecting line will have to be constructed from the wind farm to the Square Butte transformer.

Minnesota Power of Duluth buys some of the power generated by Milton R. Young Unit II, and the wind power will augment that source.

Florida Power and Light had earlier planned to build a line to send megawatts from the Wilton wind farm across the Missouri River to the Square Butte transformer and back again on the Minnkota transmission line. Instead, it entered into a deal to sell the Wilton wind energy to Basin Electric Power Cooperative for distribution on a transmission line already on that side of the river.

This Center project would get Florida Power and Light on the same side of the Missouri River as the transformer.

Oliver County Auditor Barbara Fleming said it isn't clear exactly where around Center the wind farm would be located. The company's application lists locations in four different townships around the community.

She said the planning and zoning commission would pass on a recommendation to the Oliver County Commission, which may take further action on the application when it meets Tuesday. Florida Power and Light Director John DiDonato was not available for comment.

(Reach Lauren Donovan at 748-5511 or lauren@; westriv.com.)