Finding opportunity close to home

Brandon Ellingson had always worked with his hands. He’d done auto body repair and worked construction. He had experience in masonry, in pest control, and in handling heavy equipment. He’d been a hands-on project coordinator, he’d served in the Army, and he’d lived in several states. His work life had been practical, physical, and shaped by the next available job.

But while working on a construction job, he severely injured his hand. Brandon cut a tendon and spent months recovering. When he returned to work, his hand no longer had the same strength or movement. The kind of labor he had always relied on was becoming harder to do. “It was really terrifying,” Brandon says. 

That mix of challenge and problem-solving is what keeps the job interesting. Each day starts with the team checking how the wind farm is running, looking for faults or trips, making a plan, and heading out to do the work. When Brandon talks about working inside a turbine, he focuses on responsibility—for the equipment, for the power being produced, and for the people working beside him.

“If something happens to somebody up there, I’m responsible to try and make sure that I make all the right decisions to get them down as safely as possible, as quickly as possible,” he says.

The work is demanding, but it is also steady. And for Brandon, that has changed what feels possible. Before Badger Wind, he often lived paycheck to paycheck. Now he can plan for retirement, take trips with his family, and spend a little more at local businesses in nearby Wishek.

“For the first time in pretty much my whole life, I’m actually able to start saving money and planning for retirement, which I never thought was going to be a thing,” Brandon says. “I just figured I’m going to work until I drop, and that’s it.”

He thinks about that when he talks to young people, including his own son, about careers in renewable energy.

He is proud that his children have seen his path change. They’ve been with him through the lower-paying jobs, the injury, and the uncertainty. And they’re beside him now, seeing him find work that gives his family more stability than he once thought possible.