The GCED presented a Letter of Agreement (LOA) to sell  a combined 40 megawatts (MW) of county-generated wind power to two electric power purchasers: Midwest Energy, an electric (end-user) utility at 15 MW and 25 MW to Sunflower Electric Power Corp., a wholesale electricity cooperative. The  LOA  is in front of  Sunflower’s Board of Directors – Schweitzer anticipates approval soon.

The  agreement means big business for Graham County. It’s been a long road for GCED to reach this point, but the question“What does a county, with less than three people per square mile, do to attract  commerce to the northwest corner of Kansas?” is answered. (from Hill City, Kan. – Wind Power 101 ) Since then, Jacksonville-based WECC LLC and GCED have developed an intricately woven government - business technical and marketing relationship which began at the 2008 Kansas Wind & Renewable Energy Conference in Topeka.

Wind turbine - courtesy WECC

GCED engaged WECC’s consulting services for a multi-faceted meteorological (met), economic assessment, and environmental study. The year-long met study documented the county’s wind  ’profile’ with specialized software which gauges wind speed, direction and seasonal changes for optimum placement of wind turbines.

An Economic Feasibility Study (EFS) was  correlated with this data and included demand vs. production analysis and computation of return on investment. WECC”s study is a complex technical analysis – an full overview is available here. WECC identified optimum placement for turbines on 20 separate properties.

In the  20 years that I’ve been in rural county development, WECC is the most responsive consultant I’ve  worked with. They make every effort to understand the community – Schweitzer

Landowner acceptance of 150-foot wind turbines is unpredictable based on individual land use.  Schweitzer, with WECC LLC, held town hall meetings to explain the benefits of a wind farm to the community – excitement grew and all 20 land-leases were signed.

Illinois-based Xciting Energy,  a wind farm developer, signed onto the project. Xciting owns land in Kansas with capacity for another 300 megawatts of electricity generated through wind-power.

The coordinated efforts of GCED, WECC and Xciting plus power transmission access made Graham County an attractive and viable megawatt producer. Sunflower and Midwestern attended a Graham County coordinating  ’summit’ convened in June and contacted Graham County shortly thereafter with need specifications.

Sunflower currently purchases megawatts from two other wind farms in Kansas – Gray County Wind Farm (25 miles west of Dodge City) and Smoky Hills Wind Farm (20 miles west of Salinas). Midwest Energy is a purchaser of electricity through utility-scale wind farms and small individual turbines.

2010 Kansas Wind & Renewable Energy Conference

Wayne Hildreth, Executive Managing Partner of  WECC LLC, considers Schweitzer a visionary in building alternative-energy infrastructure. Together the two brought the project from “From beginning to wind” (as Hildreth likes to say).

The  project has, in effect, created  a new business model for the company with a complete focus on full-service consultation and execution.  In fact, GCED and WECC are sharing booth space at the 2010 Kansas Wind & Renewable Energy Conference, as an example of what is, indeed, an intricately woven government business partnership.

Again, further updates as updates arrive …

Sunflower has postponed final decision until their November Board meeting…we [WECC LCC] are anxiously awaiting their decision.

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

“Green Cities™ Florida was held May 20-21, 2009 at the Orange County Convention Center South Concourse Building, and offered a highly interactive, outcome-based portfolio of workshops presented with practical steps and specific plans for participating in the growing $400 billion green economy.

www.greencitiesflorida.org

“State and national experts in green government, business, and technology provided practical tools, case studies, and resources.  Speakers’ shared vital information that is driving today’s new green economy and moving Florida towards a sustainable future.”

John Adams, president and CEO of Enterprise Florida, led a break-out discussion group exploring the challenges and opportunities in building Florida’s clean energy industry - not only in renewables, but  supporting technologies [energy- efficient building services and products; manufacturing and distribution]. The conference was well-attended  and Adams noted a keen interest in all cross-sections of  clean business opportunities.

Renewable energy technologies include  biomass, biofuels, geothermal,  solar,  wind; and emerging ocean research and development.

Click here for more information on at the State of Florida’s Clean Energy Industry Cluster from Enterprise Florida.

-k. a. gardner