For the past several months, crews have been working nonstop on site preparations for the Prairie Queen Wind Farm.
Aside from the residents living in close proximity to the steady caravan of trucks criss-crossing the northern parts of the county, much of the work has been done in relative anonymity.
That’s about to change, with the finish line in site for the subterranean base work for each of the 59 towers.
The project’s next phase — tower construction — is set to begin Jan. 15. The plan is to erect six to eight turbines each week.
If all goes right, and the weather cooperates, all 59 turbines — scattered between Utah and South Dakota roads from north of Gas to just past U.S. 59 — should be up by the end of March.
Then, as soon as each turbine is tied into the newly placed substation at the intersection of South Dakota Road and 3400 Street, the turbines will begin producing electricity.
The hard deadline for EDP, barring any kind of unforeseen calamity, is to have Prairie Queen fully commissioned by May 30.
EDP’s Stevee Kennard, project developer, and Rod Cossman, senior project manager, sat down with the Register to discuss the wind farm’s progress.
WERE IT not for technological advances in wind turbine development, building a wind farm in Allen County likely would have been a pipe dream as recently as 10 years ago.
While southeast Kansas is prone to the occasional days of robust wind, most are filled with nominal breezes, when compared to the gustier environs in western Kansas.
The solution, Cossman explained, comes from bigger turbines.
The bigger the blade, the more wind it catches. The more wind it catches, the more it turns. The more it turns, the more power it produces.
“The newer turbines are more efficient” than those produced even 10 years ago, Kennard said. “With these, we can start producing power with as little as 5 mph wind.”
EDP targeted Allen County more than four years ago, based on readings provided over several months from temporary meteorological towers set up across the county.
From there, the company eyed a number of other factors — topography, number of residences, whether the land is cropland or pasture, and perhaps most importantly, the proximity to large-scale transmission lines.
It does no good to generate electricity if you have no way to move it, Cossman said.
