In North Dakota, energy is reliant  on environmental sources.  

“You need the coal, you need the gas, it all ties in together,” Basin Electric Operations & Maintenance supervisor Patrick Hurt.

Now, the community is taking one final glance at one of the two original wind turbines that started the path for wind energy for the Basin Electric company.

Both wind turbines have reached their mark in life span which resulted in the decision of the co-op to decommission them both.  

“The reliability has gone down as far as having parts of keeping them maintained to keep them running. They haven’t produced much in the last years, so there won’t be any interruptions as far as power,” Hurt said.

“It was our first time getting into wind energy back in 2002. To see this turbine, go down was a little bittersweet,” Basin Electric Spokesperson Tracie Bettenhausen said.

Now that the turbine has fallen, the color blue and the purpose it served will always be remembered.  

“It was kind of like they were our marker everybody knew that these was our first two towers and they’re right along the highway and a source of pride for the electric company,” Bettenhausen said.

“I thought it went pretty smooth. There were no injuries, and everyone was safe. I thought it went as smooth as it could,” Hurt said.

Other windmills remain standing for now and the blades can rotate up to 20 RPMs.  

“Each of these are 1.3 megawatts, if you think about a megawatt, that powers about 800 homes,” Bettenhausen said.

Hurt also said there are 80 functional turbines by General Electric.