Wind and Solar Leasing in McIntosh County, North Dakota

Two documented wind farms already operate across McIntosh County

Tatanka Wind Farm, a 180-megawatt project representing roughly $381 million in construction cost, spans Dickey and McIntosh counties in North Dakota along with McPherson County, South Dakota. Construction began in April 2007 and the project went online on July 25, 2008 -- meaning McIntosh County has close to two decades of lived experience with a commercial wind project's turbine operations, lease payments, and local tax effects, not a hypothetical or newly-arriving industry.

More recently, the Badger Wind Farm -- a 250-megawatt project spanning Logan and McIntosh counties, built around roughly 80 to 92 turbines and expected to power about 110,000 homes -- was approved by the North Dakota Public Service Commission on a 2-1 vote in November 2022, with the developer reported as Ørsted Onshore North America. Montana-Dakota Utilities later agreed to acquire a 49% stake in the project for approximately $294 million, as part of a total deal reported at roughly $390 million; as of the most recent reporting located, the project remained under construction rather than fully operational.

What these two projects mean for a landowner or buyer evaluating a lease or setback question

These two projects are the practical backdrop against which the county's own three-mile residential setback ordinance (with its landowner-waiver option, covered on the county hub) was written and is being applied. If a parcel of interest sits within or near either project's footprint, interconnection corridor, or the broader Logan-McIntosh or Dickey-McIntosh project areas, that's a materially different situation than an isolated wind-lease inquiry unconnected to any built project -- ask specifically whether the parcel falls inside a project boundary the developer has already surveyed and contracted around.

For a landowner weighing a new lease offer, the Badger Wind Farm's financing detail -- a 49% stake alone valued at roughly $294 million -- gives a real, sourced benchmark for the scale of capital these projects represent, even though that project-wide figure says nothing about what a specific parcel's own turbine or easement lease would pay; per-parcel lease terms depend on turbine count, access-road easements, and transmission-line acreage on that individual tract under its own contract, and should be confirmed directly with the current project developer or operator rather than inferred from aggregate financing numbers.

What to verify before signing a lease or relying on a wind-income assumption

• Confirm which project (Tatanka, Badger, or neither) a specific parcel sits within or near, and get the current developer/operator contact -- Tatanka has been operating since 2008 and may have had ownership changes since; Badger's construction and ownership stake were still being finalized as of the most recent reporting located.
• Pull the North Dakota Public Service Commission docket for Badger Wind Farm if you want to review the specific siting conditions, turbine layout, or setback terms the PSC actually approved in November 2022.
• If a listing near either project references 'wind income' or an existing turbine lease, request the actual current lease document rather than relying on project-wide capacity or financing figures as a stand-in for what a specific parcel earns.
• Confirm with the McIntosh County Planning and Zoning Commission whether the three-mile residential setback ordinance and its landowner-waiver mechanism apply to a specific parcel differently depending on whether it's inside an already-approved project boundary.
• Ask the McIntosh County Director of Tax Equalization how a parcel with turbine or transmission infrastructure on it is currently assessed, since wind-generation equipment is often taxed differently than raw agricultural land.