Dec 26 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Scott Rothschild Journal-World, Lawrence, Kan.

Every day, thousands of motorists on Interstate 70 drive by a new sight in the Smoky Hills.

Dozens of white poles, standing more than 250 feet tall, with giant propeller-like blades at the top, appear on the horizon about 25 miles west of Salina.

Soon those three-bladed turbines will be rotating in the Kansas wind, sending electricity into Kansas homes and businesses.

Jason Martinson, operations supervisor for Enel North America Inc., which owns and will operate the wind farm, says he never tires of the view.

"This is our generation's way of starting a new form of energy production," he said.

When the first phase of the project is completed in January, the Smoky Hills Wind Farm will have 56 turbines spread out over 10,000 acres in Lincoln and Ellsworth counties. The farm is expected to generate 100 megawatts of electricity, enough to power a town of about 33,000 people.

"The wind resource here is very good," said Todd Regazio, Enel's owner representative on the site.

And the sight is unusual. Rolling hills, recently covered with snow, dotted by cattle and topped with massive towers and turbines.

"Kansas is just right on the tip of the sword right now. I love this industry, and it's growing by leaps and bounds," said Martinson, who has worked on wind projects across the country.

When developers first pursued the project, there was opposition from some landowners who feared the giant structures would disrupt the view of the landscape.

It's a common point of contention in wind farm development.

But economics won out on this project, supporters say.

"There has been regional, statewide and local economic benefits," said Stanley Walker, director of the Lincoln County Economic Development Foundation.

At the peak of construction, there were 225 to 250 workers, although currently there are about 130 workers on site.

Materials to build roads to the units came from a nearby quarry and all those workers needed places to live, eat and fill up their pickups.

And the project will provide royalties to landowners for years to come. Sunflower Electric Power Corp. has agreed to purchase 50 megawatts of the farm's capacity, and the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities of Kansas City, Kan., and Midwest Energy Inc. each will buy 25 megawatts.

Regional interest in the fortunes of wind energy can be seen at Cloud County Community College in Concordia, which started offering a two-year degree in wind energy technology.

Bruce Graham, who leads the wind technology course, said growth in the industry has produced a huge demand for workers to build wind farms.

"I get calls from companies, and they don't want just one or 10 people. They want 100 people," he said.

And studies are pouring in that extol the promise of prairie wind.

Kansas has three wind farms in operation producing 364 megawatts of power, but that is far from the state's potential.

The completion of several more projects next year will push the state's wind production to approximately 900 megawatts.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has set a goal of making 10 percent of the state's energy production wind driven by 2010, which would be 1,050 megawatts.

And President Bush has set a goal of having 20 percent of the nation's power coming from wind energy by 2030.

If Kansas, one of the windiest areas in the country, cashes in on this, it could mean big bucks.

The state has the potential to produce more than 7,100 megawatts of wind energy, which have an economic benefit of $7.8 billion, 23,000 temporary construction jobs and 3,000 permanent jobs, according to a report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

And there may be additional money-making ventures.

Once finished, Walker, the Lincoln County economic development official, said, he thinks people driving along I-70 may be enticed to exit to get a closer view of the turbines.

"We think that it is going to be a tourism attraction, and we are working with developers and owners of the project," he said.

"We want to come up with some kind of a plan for people to stop by and learn more about the project and what it is doing and how it fits in with the environment," Walker said.