Wind & Solar Leasing in Cottonwood County, MN Rules

Cottonwood County is host to one of Minnesota's larger active wind-and-solar developments, with full construction beginning in 2026. If you're evaluating a lease offer or buying land near the project, there's a real, legally binding siting constraint worth knowing about before you assume a turbine can go anywhere the developer and a landowner agree.

This page covers what's specific to Cottonwood County. For the general explanation, see the national guide.

A large hybrid project moving into construction in 2026

Big Bend Wind, a subsidiary of Apex Clean Energy, has proposed a wind project spanning portions of Cottonwood and Watonwan counties, with up to 47 to 49 turbines under consideration (from manufacturers including Nordex, Vestas, and GE) generating up to roughly 308 megawatts. It's designed to be built and operated in coordination with the co-located Red Rock Solar Project, proposed at up to 60 megawatts across roughly 483 acres of privately leased land specifically within Cottonwood County. As of the most recent filings, full construction of the wind project and its associated transmission line is slated to begin in the third quarter of 2026 -- meaning this is no longer a distant, speculative proposal but a project actively moving toward being built. All of this land -- both the turbine sites and the solar acreage -- is leased directly from local Cottonwood County landowners rather than owned outright by the developer.

A seven-mile buffer around the Jeffers Petroglyphs limits where turbines can go

The single most distinctive fact about this project, and the one most likely to matter to a specific landowner, involves the Jeffers Petroglyphs -- a roughly 7,000-year-old sacred site still used for prayer and ceremony by the Dakota, Cheyenne, Ioway, and Ojibwe, located a few miles from the proposed project area. When Big Bend Wind's original layout put turbines within a few miles of the site, the Minnesota Historical Society, the Lower Sioux Indian Community, and the Upper Sioux Community formally objected through Public Utilities Commission filings. The result was a binding 2021 Settlement Agreement between Big Bend Wind, Red Rock Solar, Apex Clean Energy, the Minnesota Historical Society, and both Sioux communities, requiring removal of all turbine locations within seven miles of the Jeffers Petroglyphs. A further amendment filed in October 2025 removed two additional turbine locations closest to the site, continuing to reduce visual and cultural impact consistent with that settlement.

What the buffer means if you're offered a lease, or buying nearby land

If you own or are buying land within roughly seven miles of the Jeffers Petroglyphs, understand that a turbine lease on that specific parcel is unlikely to be viable for this project regardless of what a developer might initially propose -- the settlement agreement is a binding condition of the state permit, not a voluntary preference the developer can waive by offering better lease terms. The solar project's siting is governed by different considerations and isn't automatically subject to the same seven-mile turbine exclusion, so a parcel inside that buffer could still be relevant to a solar lease even where it's off-limits for wind. If you've been approached with a lease offer, ask directly whether your parcel falls inside the seven-mile turbine buffer and, if so, whether the specific offer is for wind, solar, or associated infrastructure like access roads or collector lines -- these carry different siting rules.

What this means for your purchase

Before signing a lease or buying land already under one near this project, check the current, as-amended turbine layout against the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission's project docket rather than an older news account -- the layout has already been revised at least twice (the original 2021 settlement and the October 2025 amendment) and could shift further before construction. If you're the landowner being approached, get the lease's actual terms reviewed independently: payment structure, easement scope (turbine pads and access roads versus a broader restricted area), and what happens to your payments and the land if the project's permit conditions or route change before the 2026 construction start. If you're buying land already under a recorded lease or easement for this project, pull the actual document from the Cottonwood County Recorder rather than relying on a listing summary, and confirm whether it transfers automatically to a new owner.

Wind and Solar Energy Leasing in Cottonwood County, Minnesota

A large hybrid project moving into construction in 2026

A seven-mile buffer around the Jeffers Petroglyphs limits where turbines can go

What the buffer means if you're offered a lease, or buying nearby land

What this means for your purchase

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