Hill City, Kan. – Wind Power 101
Posted on 10 August 2009 by k. a. gardner
HILL CITY, Kan., March 30 – “An old feud between two factions at Hill City has broken out again. Hill City is the seat of Graham County.” According to the New York Times, in 1896 a riot was “narrowly averted” when the post office was moved across the street in the middle of the night.
One hundred years later, Graham County would have welcomed any commotion – the New York Times reported in 2001 that “within 50 miles of Morland [Graham County], fading towns settled more than a century ago — like Zurich, Palco, Jennings, Clayton and Dresden — lost 15 percent to 30 percent of their inhabitants.”
A town does not vanish in a single moment. Nor does it vanish for a single reason. In Morland’s case, the decline was brought on by the mechanization of agriculture and nearly two decades of low wheat prices and shrinking oil fields. –NYT
The renewal story of Graham County – as told by Kirk Schweitzer, Director, Graham County Economic Development – began with a question: What does a county, with less than three people per square mile, do to attract commerce to the northwest corner of Kansas? The answer came from an unlikely place — Jacksonville, Fla.-based Wind Energy Consulting & Contracting.
Harnessing wind power - From Beginning to Wind
Kansas was already in the process of harnessing the Great Plains winds for energy production – the Kansas Electric Transmission Authority (KETA) was established in 2005.
“[It's] mission is to ensure reliable operation of the electrical transmission system [grid], diversify and expand the Kansas economy and facilitate consumption of Kansas energy through improvements in the state’s electric transmission infrastructure.
In the 46-county region of western Kansas, no such structure exists. Independent power companies provide power to the 46-county region, of which Graham County is part.
Enter the Sept. 23 – 24, 2008 Kansas Wind & Renewable Energy Conference in Topeka. In an intensive two-day conference, over 45 speakers presented all aspects of primarily wind-power technology – transmission issues, manufacturing and business development and workforce issues.
At the conference, the GCED – Schweitzer, four board members – and the mayor “took a crash course in Wind 101.”
Would it even be economically viable for Graham County?
Next up – Wind Networking!
- k. a. gardner
Tags | Jacksonville, windpower
Interesting. It reminds me a little of the scene in Horseman, Pass By where the grandpa is complaining about oil derricks in the pasture. But apart from Larry McMurtry, who can object to a good development?
This is irony at its worst. Tomorrow is April Fool’s Day and here I am answering eight-month old comments today.
No one can object to a good development, Doug. WECC informs me they’ve had “some great developments in Graham County.” I’ll be in touch with the company shortly for what I’m sure will be an interesting update!
I think windmills are as perfect for the Great Plains as solar panels are for Florida, weirsdo.
It makes me hopeful to see windmills on the Great Plains. We also saw several atop hills on our trip to the Berkshires. And many Massachusetts homes had solar panels.