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Published online 1/7/2008 12:33 AM
Smoky Hills Wind Farm nearly ready
Its nearly completed first phase includes 56 turbines generating 100.8 megawatts of power, said Julie Smith Galvin, director of corporate affairs for Enel North America, Inc., the wind farm owner. "We've been constructing the project over the last year doing everything from putting in roads to putting up the turbines on top of the towers," Smith-Galvin said. Phase one will generate enough electricity to power around 30,000 homes annually. And Lenexa-based TradeWind Energy, which is developing the project, calls the farm's location the most energetic site of any current wind project in Kansas. The power generated by the first phase of construction is already spoken for. The Kansas Board of Public Utilities and Midwest Energy will each purchase 25.2 megawatts and Sunflower Electric will purchase the remaining 50.4 megawatts. That electricity will each year offset about 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, 1,000 tons of nitrogen oxide and 1,400 tons of sulfur dioxide, which is a product of coal and petroleum combustion, according to TradeWind Energy. Phase one sits on 12,000 acres owned by more than 30 landowners. Phase two, which is anticipated to wrap up sometime around November, will sit on 14,000 acres owned by 80 landowners. It will generate about 149 megawatts of power - enough to power 45,000 additional homes and offset around 450,000 tons of carbon dioxide, 1,500 tons of nitrogen oxide and 2,000 tons of sulfur dioxide each year. That power has not yet been purchased, but is being marketed to Kansas utilities, electric cooperatives and municipal utilities, according to TradeWind Energy. |
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