Oct. 3--LINCOLN -- The Salina Journal
Kansas -- the "Saudi Arabia of wind" -- can be proud of leading a "Made in
America" energy policy that uses homegrown natural resources, Gov. Kathleen
Sebelius said Thursday.
Wind power is not only terrific for the economy, but "it's terrific for our
security and it's good for our planet," the governor told a large crowd
gathered for the formal dedication of The Smoky Hills Wind Project. The
dedication took place at the headquarters of the wind turbine farm located
south of Lincoln, along Interstate Highway 70.
Sebelius, the featured guest for the ceremony, stated that as recently as
three years ago, less than 1 percent of energy generated in Kansas came from
wind power. Today the state stands to reach a goal of generating 10 percent
of the state's energy from wind by the end of the year.
"We'll be at 1,000 megawatts of wind -- that's only the seventh state in the
country to reach that threshold, and the only state to do it without (a
mandate from) the Legislature," Sebelius said.
The dedication of the wind farm -- the largest in Kansas to date -- drew bus
loads of elementary school students from Ellsworth and Lincoln counties. It
also drew landowners, business owners and residents curious about the
project.
"I think (the project) is better than what we thought it would be. I think
the layout is a lot more aesthetically pleasing, and I think the cooperation
with Tradewind and Enel has been superior," said Lincoln County Commission
Vice Chairman Steve Errebo.
Tradewind Energy of Lenexa is the developer of the 20,000-acre project.
Phase I and Phase II include a total of 155 wind turbine generators located
in both Ellsworth and Lincoln counties. Phase II is expected to be
operational before the end of the year.
Enel, with offices in Andover, Mass., is an international energy
conglomerate producing and distributing electricity and natural gas in 22
countries on four continents. Enel is an investor in Tradewind, and a
partner with it in the development of U.S. wind farms.
Enel is the owner and operator of the Smoky Hills wind turbine farm. An
estimated 25 Enel and contractor jobs are projected to be created to operate
and maintain both Phase I and Phase II of the project.
Errebo was part of an economic development board that originally pursued the
project.
"The only question in my mind was whether the public was behind it," he
said. "We had information meetings with landowners and citizens in the
county. And they were overwhelmingly in favor of pursuit of the project."
Under terms of their development deal, Lincoln and Ellsworth counties are
expected to reap a combined annual payment of $3,000 a megawatt of power
generated, for 10 years.
The payment is in lieu of taxes, since the project is exempt from state and
local property taxes. In Lincoln County, the estimated take is $5 million
over the 10 years, Errebo said.
"We're going to put that in the Windpower Economic Benefit Fund," he said.
"We'll keep it out of the general fund. The county will utilize some of it,
the school will utilize some of it. The economic development group will
utilize some. And also some nonprofit groups."
The county plans to accrue the principal and only use the interest and
dividends for the benefit of those groups. The fund will be governed by an
appointed board that determines where and how best to use the money, he
said.
"Our outlook for the future is we're going to have this facility for a very
long time," Toni Volpe, president and chief executive officer for Enel North
America, said after Sebelius spoke. "Our production of energy is going to be
stable and predictable from day one."
What sets Enel apart, Volpe said, is that it's not only an investor in all
sorts of alternative energy -- wind, geothermal, hydroelectric and biomass,
for example -- it's an owner and operator, and it strives to be a good
corporate neighbor.
The facility is expected to have a lifespan of at least 20 years before
redevelopment of the site is necessary, said Robert Freeman, chief executive
officer of Tradewind.
Lately, the wind energy movement has had a champion in billionaire oil man
T. Boone Pickens. Pickens favors wind farm development together with more
widespread use of compressed natural gas to cut America's consumption of
foreign oil.
"There is a movement to these kind of facilities," Freeman said. "He's in
the mix, and he's part of the whole movement. I think what he's doing is
great. Because he comes from the oil and gas industry, and is politically a
pretty conservative guy, I think he makes a pretty interesting spokesperson
for the industry.
"I personally believe his plan makes a lot of sense," Freeman said.
"Particularly because it looks like we may have a whole lot more natural gas
in this country we can access than people knew, even a year ago. It starts
to make some sense, I think, that we start to rely more heavily on natural
gas and wind."
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