If no hiccups occur, construction of a wind farm in northeast Allen County will start in summer 2018 and its turbines will begin generating electricity by late spring 2019.
That will occur if the county’s planning commissioners recommend a zoning variance to permit the wind farm, and county commissioners agree.
Planners will meet the evening of Oct. 26 to consider the next step.
Tuesday morning commissioners unanimously approved a conditional use permit for construction of a substation at the east edge of the county, next to a high-voltage transmission line.
EDP Renewables, the company that proposes to build the wind farm, sought substation accord, and now is completing transfer of ownership of 10 acres, where it will be, to Kansas City Power Light, transmission line owner. KCPL will build the substation; EDP will stand the cost. The substation and adjacent transmission would give access to a multitude of potential customers.
Stevee Kennard, EDP project developer, laid out for the Register the timeline for the wind farm’s construction.
The initial phase will begin in summer 2018 to clear land for as many as 60 turbines. Next will be excavation for their massive concrete bases. The bases will be 50 to 60 feet in diameter and contain between 500 and 600 cubic yards of concrete.
“Then,” Kennard said, “we’ll start putting up the towers in early 2019, with operation (power generation) expected to start in late spring of that year.” Towers will vary in height and top out at 591 feet, she added.
State law gives wind farms a 10-year property tax exemption, but EDP will make a payment in lieu of taxes prior to going on tax rolls, an amount to be negotiated when all is in place for the wind farm’s construction.
IN OTHER news, commissioners approved a plan to refinance construction and working capital bonds for Allen County Regional Hospital, at behest of hospital trustees who gave their approval last week — and was reported in detail by the Register Sept. 28. Bonds of $25 million were issued in 2011 to construct and equip the hospital, with additional bonds of $5 million for working capital.
Loren Korte, chairman of the ACRH Finance Committee and a trustee, said refinancing would save “better than $2 million” in finance charges.
