Blattner, the Quanta Services unit, is building Invenergy’s $750 million Philip Wind Energy Center in Haakon County, South Dakota, and turbine foundation pours are underway. South Dakota’s Board of Economic Development authorized up to $6.1 million in sales and use tax rebates for the project on Oct. 13. Once it’s running in 2028, it’ll be the largest wind farm in the state.
ENR reported the contract and the rebate on Oct. 16. The state permit allows up to 333 MW and 87 turbines. The actual build is smaller and denser: Philip Wind Partners told the Public Utilities Commission in an Aug. 31 filing that it signed a turbine supply agreement with Nordex USA for 55 N163/5.9 MW units on 108-meter hubs, a cold-climate variant. That’s 324.5 MW of nameplate, with up to 300 MW delivered to the grid.
Where Blattner stands on the Philip Wind site
The site covers about 110 square miles north of Philip, roughly 85 miles east of Rapid City. Blattner set its first mud mats in June and mobilized full-scale crews on July 13, 2026. The laydown yard and on-site batch plant are done. According to the developer’s Sept. 30 monthly report to the PUC, crews are working on public road improvements, access roads, grading and foundation excavation, with rebar, grounding and the first foundation pours underway.
October’s list adds the electrical collection system, with conduit boring and cable trenching, plus grading for the substation and the operations and maintenance building. The project ties in through about 5.5 miles of 230-kV generator tie line.
Turbine erection runs June through December 2027, balance of plant wraps in January 2028, and commercial operation is set for March 2028. That’s three months later than the December 2027 date the project carried when it was permitted in February. The developer told regulators in September that the schedule hasn’t changed meaningfully since July.
The South Dakota wind project’s local numbers
Invenergy expects about 200 construction jobs and 12 permanent positions. Over 30 years it projects about $85 million in landowner payments, $50 million in property taxes and $10 million in other state and local taxes. Those are the developer’s estimates.
PUC Chairman Chris Nelson said at the permit vote that the applicant had “proven they are entitled to this permit under the criteria established in state law,” which is about as plain as a permit approval gets.
The $6.1 million rebate is small against a $750 million budget, under 1%. It comes through the state’s Reinvestment Payment Program, which returns sales and use tax on qualifying projects, so it lands on the equipment and materials side of the ledger.
Why Quanta’s renewables unit keeps winning wind jobs
Blattner is a longtime wind and solar specialist, and Quanta’s ownership gives it balance sheet and craft depth that smaller civil firms would struggle to match on a 110-square-mile site. Self-performing foundations, collection and roads under one contract is how a job like this holds a 2028 date.
Owners are still finding money for generation even as financing gets harder elsewhere. A separate developer recently closed $815 million for South Carolina solar without naming a builder. Philip Wind names its builder, its turbines and its schedule. It still hasn’t named a customer.
At 324.5 MW of nameplate, the budget works out to about $2.3 million per megawatt. Thirty-two fewer turbines than the permit allows means fewer foundations and less collection cable, but each 5.9-MW Nordex is a heavier lift. The 2027 erection season will show whether that trade pays off.