Interview: Tim Maag, vice president and general manager, Mortenson’s Wind Energy Group

Golden Valley-based Mortenson has long played an active role in a renewable energy sector that’s been around — as the company points out — a lot longer than some people might think. For proof, look no further than Mortenson’s own experience. Just last fall, Mortenson celebrated the 25th anniversary of its Wind Energy Group, which was launched in the mid-1990s with a “single wind turbine project in Iowa,” as the company has noted. Mortenson’s wind portfolio has since grown to encompass 200 projects with 30,000 megawatts of energy. This year, Mortenson expects to work on projects in Minnesota and more than a dozen other states. Tim Maag, a 40-year Mortenson veteran, is the vice president and general manager of the company’s Wind Energy Group. Maag leads strategies around business growth and oversees preconstruction and construction of wind power facilities, according to his bio. Maag is an active board member of the American Wind Energy Association and a past member of the Society of American Military Engineers. He previously managed the company’s Federal Contracting Group. In the following interview with reporter Brian Johnson, Maag talks about the past, present and future of Mortenson’s Wind Energy Group, the outlook for the wind sector writ large, and the PR hit that wind took following the deadly severe weather crisis in Texas, which left millions without power.