Kansas’s Ellsworth and Lincoln Counties
In Kansas, how many wind turbines are there?
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the first major wind farm in Kansas, so we’ve compiled a list of 20 things to know about the business.
- Kansas’ wind turbines have a capacity of 7,028 megawatts, which is the fourth most in the US and enough to power 1.6 million homes.
- In 2020, wind accounted for 42.2 percent of the electricity generated in the state. Only Iowa has a higher share of energy derived from wind.
- Gray County, Kansas, saw the state’s first large-scale wind project come online near the end of 2001.
- In 2020, Kansas added 896 megawatts of wind energy, nearly doubling its capacity in a single year.
- In the state, there are approximately 3,500 wind turbines.
- A Kansas wind turbine’s average height to the hub, where the blades’ spinning is converted to power, is 267 feet.
- The average height of the blades is 430 feet.
- The rotor is 326 feet long from blade tip to blade tip on average.
- The Prairie Queen Wind Farm in Allen County has the state’s tallest turbines, which stand 374 feet tall to the hub.
- The Gray County Wind Farm has the state’s shortest turbines, which stand 213 feet tall to the hub.
- 2 megawatts is the average power production of a Kansas wind turbine.
- In Pratt County, the highest setback, or the distance a turbine must be from a structure, is 2,500 feet.
- When a wind turbine is running at maximum capacity, the tip of the blade can reach speeds of up to 200 mph.
- The state’s wind business generates around $48 million in lease payments to landowners each year.
- Over the life of the current projects, the industry will pay $657 million in agreed payments to local governments.
- Since 2001, the construction industry has created 8,682 new employment and 563 new permanent jobs.
- In 2020, the median compensation for a wind technician was $56,000 per year.
- Over the next ten years, wind technology is predicted to be one of the most in-demand vocations.
- Kansas has wind turbines in thirty counties.
- Ford County has the most wind turbines in the state, at 409.
What is the location of Kansas’ largest wind farm?
Gray County Wind Farm, in Montezuma, Kansas, was developed by FPL Energy in 2001 and is still Kansas’ largest wind farm.
The 170 turbines of the 112 megawatt wind farm can power 33,000 households. The wind turbines are spread out over 12,000 acres, however only six acres are used for roads and wind turbines. Electricity is purchased by Black Hills Energy.
So, how’s everything doing now that it’s been 20 years? Gray County Wind Farm has brought $5.3 million in payments to the county, which has a population of roughly 6,000 people, according to Wichita’s NBC station KSN. Local educational districts receive a portion of the funds.
It, along with three other wind farms, has also paid for two new parking lots, an elementary school kitchen update, and a new grandstand at the district’s football field, avoiding the need for the county to raise taxes to cover the costs.
Orville Williams, a county commissioner who leased part of his land to the wind farm and recently signed a new 20-year lease, spoke with KSN. Williams stated he’s cultivated around the towers and hasn’t had any issues with the wind farm:
It’s a win-win situation whenever you can receive money from an outside source rather than having to get it from your local community.
Grant Salmans, the mayor of Montezuma, added:
We’ve heard from someone in a particular section of the state that they don’t want one. And we’re the kind of people that think that doesn’t make much sense.
In Kansas, where are the wind turbines?
The Smoky Hills Wind Farm (Phase I & II) is a 250 megawatt (MW) wind farm in Lincoln and Ellsworth Counties, Kansas, located 140 miles west of Topeka and north of Ellsworth. Enel Green Power is in charge of the farm. Many of the wind turbines are visible from Highway K-14 and Interstate 70, which pass through areas of the wind farm. The project, which employs 56 Vestas V80 1.8 MW wind turbines, generates enough electricity to power 37,000 typical Kansas households each year. Phase II, which will add 148.5 MW to the overall nameplate capacity of 249.3 MW, began building on November 19, 2008, with 99 GE 1.5 MW wind turbines. In December 2008, Phase II was finished and commercial operations began.
From Interstate 70, look for the Smoky Hills Wind Farm.
Are there any wind turbines in Kansas?
Wind power is the most important source of electricity in Kansas, generating over 41% of the state’s electricity in 2019. Kansas is second only to Texas in terms of wind power potential. Kansas has a potential for 952 GW of wind generation capacity, according to the most latest projections (2012), but only around 5.6 GW had been installed by the end of 2018. Kansas could generate 3,102 TWh of power each year, accounting for more than 75% of all electricity generated in the US in 2011. The annual value of this electricity might be as high as $290 billion (at 9.35 cents per kWh).
Who owns all of Kansas’ windmills?
The 201MW Post Rock Wind Farm is located in the Kansas counties of Ellsworth and Lincoln. The wind power project is owned and developed by Wind Capital Group, a US-based subsidiary of Irish renewable energy corporation NTR.
The $375 million Post Rock Wind Farm began building in September 2011 and was completed in October 2012. In November 2012, the wind farm was formally opened.
What percentage of Kansas’ energy is generated by wind?
In 2019, wind overtook coal as Kansas’ leading energy source for generating power for the first time. Wind energy contributed for 43 percent of the state’s net generation in 2020, continuing the trend. Coal-fired power facilities provide 31% of Kansas’ electricity, down from nearly half a decade ago. Wolf Creek Generating Station, the state’s lone reactor nuclear power facility, accounting for 19 percent of energy net generation in 2020. Natural gas-fired power stations provided 6% of the state’s electricity. Solar energy, petroleum liquids, biomass, and hydroelectric power provided the rest of Kansas’ electricity. 60, 61 In the residential sector, Kansas’ per capita power demand is towards the middle of the states. 62 One out of every four Kansas households uses electricity as their major source of heat. 63 The average retail price of electricity in Kansas is somewhat lower than the national average. 64
What is the average price of a wind turbine?
If there is no cost or environmental benefit to putting wind on a system with plenty of hydro, one might wonder why we are doing it. The explanation is that many jurisdictions (Washington and California, for example) have established legislation that exclude current hydropower from the legal definition of renewable energy. Many readers may be surprised to learn that existing hydro meets the requirement of being naturally replenished. Existing hydro is replenished in the same way as new hydro would be.
The BPA grid currently has 3000 MW of wind energy potential (when the wind is blowing). Assuming the above-mentioned windmill pricing, this means that BPA consumers have already spent at least $5 billion on wind-energy production with no apparent return. By 2012, this potential wind capacity is likely to increase, costing BPA customers another $5 billion with no evident gain.
The basic line is that we have permitted policies to pass that are both financially and environmentally damaging. Wind developers would have lost their legally mandated status if these laws had not been in place, and there would be no windmills on grids with plenty of hydro.
Electricity generated by the wind is not free. The cost of fuel for any power plant is only a portion of the total cost to a consumer. The fact that the cost of the fuel is zero does not imply that the cost of the power generated is also zero.
This is comparable to how hydroelectricity is generated. Although the cost of water is zero, the cost of hydro-generated power is not. It comprises charges for operations and maintenance as well as the cost of constructing the hydroelectric dam.
The cost of fuel for a nuclear plant is not zero, although it is a minor part of the total cost of generation. It is unquestionably less than the cost of fuel in a natural gas plant, where the cost of fuel accounts for almost 80% of the generation cost.
Wind generating appears to be worth the fuel cost savings for power companies who utilize oil as a fuel.
Oil, on the other hand, is not widely used due to its high cost.
To summarize, there appears to be no economic basis for installing windmills unless there are no low-cost alternatives. This is especially true when windmills are installed on a grid with plenty of hydro, because there are no corresponding fuel savings.
Inputs:
- Installing a 2-MW wind turbine costs around $3.5 million.
- The cost of operating and maintaining a wind farm is around 20-25 percent of the total cost.
- Wind turbines have a maximum life expectancy of 20 years.
- The cost of gasoline is approximately $4 per thousand cubic feet.
- Oil is currently priced at $80 per barrel.
- 1 kWh of electricity requires around 7.7 cubic feet of natural gas (dividing the generation in Table 7.2a by the fuel consumption in Table 7.3a in these tables published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration ).
- One kWh of electricity requires 0.00175 barrels of oil (using the same tables as above).
Assumptions:
- A wind farm’s capacity factor is approximately 30%. (land based).
- For Hawaii, a greater capacity factor of 45 percent is estimated.
- A wind turbine has a 15-year average lifespan.
- The wind farm’s interest charges are overlooked.
- Transmission line costs are overlooked.
Smoky Hills Wind Farm has how many wind turbines?
Lincoln, Kansas, February 26, 2008 Enel SpA today announced the completion of a 101 megawatt (MW) wind farm in Kansas through its subsidiary Enel North America, Inc. The Smoky Hills Phase I project will generate enough electricity to power over 37,000 ordinary Kansas households per year, making it Enel’s largest operating wind project to date.
Fulvio Conti, CEO of Enel, said, “We have taken yet another big step ahead in our objective of developing renewables and innovative generation solutions today.” We continue to deliver on one of the most sophisticated CO2 emission reduction plans in the world.
The Smoky Hills I, Kansas Wind project, located 140 miles west of Topeka in Ellsworth and Lincoln counties, employs 56 Vestas V80 1.8-megawatt wind turbines. The project, created by TradeWind Energy LLC and owned by Smoky Hills Wind Farm, LLC, which was acquired by Enel in 2007, is presently supplying wind energy to three local utilities: Sunflower Electric Power Corporation, Midwest Energy, Inc., and the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities. The initiative has been funded by GE Energy Financial Services.
Enel and Tradewind are continuing to build the Smoky Hills site, which has the potential to be developed to a total installed capacity of around 250 MW.
Contacts:
In Kansas, how much does a wind turbine cost?
Per megawatt, the cost is $1,300,000.00 USD. Because the average wind turbine has a power output of 2-3 MW, most turbines cost between $2 and $4 million.