- Flat Ridge Wind Farm Tour
The Sumner County Economic Development Commission, Cowley First, Cowley College, and the Sumner County Farm Bureau co-sponsored a bus trip February 5th to the Flat Ridge Wind Farm in Barber County. Thirty-two people from Sumner and Cowley counties participated in the trip. Cowley College provided the buses and Alternity Wind Power provided the lunch. Sumner County Economic Development and Sumner County Farm Bureau had co-sponsored a trip last year to the Elk River Wind Farm. “The purpose of these bus trips is to educate our citizens about wind farms,” stated Janis Hellard, Director of the Sumner County Economic Development Commission. “The trip to Elk River was to see a wind farm already in production. The trip to Flat Ridge was to look at one still in the construction phase. These trips have been very well attended–Sumner County had their half of the seats on the bus already spoken for before we knew what day we were going and before we could even advertise the trip. With all this interest, we may need to do another one,” stated Janis Hellard.
The Flat Ridge Wind Farm will consist of 5,000 acres. It will have 40 Clipper 2.5 MW C-96 wind turbine generators to generate 100 MW of renewable energy. This site is a joint venture between Westar Energy and BP Alternative Energy. Phase one of the Flat Ridge Wind Farm will provide enough electricity to power more than 30,000 homes and offset the equivalent of nearly 240,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere annually. Westar Energy will own half of the wind farm and purchase energy from the remaining half. The Flat Ridge Wind Farm is expected to be in full commercial operation by the end of February, 2009.
For more information about the Flat Ridge Wind Farm, you may visit their website.
