Construction powering up

April 15, 2008 09:00 am

— From staff reports
news@joplinglobe.com
Empire District Electric Co. held a joint groundbreaking celebration Friday with Horizon Wind Energy and Westar Energy for the Meridian Way Wind Farm near Concordia, Kan.
The Meridian Way Wind Farm is a 201-megawatt operation that will produce about 650,000 megawatt-hours of energy annually. Empire anticipates that it will purchase about 350,000 megawatt-hours of energy annually from the 105-megawatt phase of the project — enough to meet the annual electricity needs of about 25,000 homes.
Westar Energy, based in Topeka, Kan., will purchase the energy from the 96-megawatt phase of the project to provide power for customers in Kansas.
The Meridian Way Wind Farm should be finished and selling power to the Joplin utility by the end of the year, Blake Mertens, Empire’s manager of strategic projects, said at a meeting last month in Neosho.
In late 2005, Empire contracted for energy from the Elk River Wind Farm near Beaumont, Kan. Those wind turbines generate 525,000 megawatt-hours — enough to satisfy the annual power needs of about 42,000 homes.
Once the second farm is online, wind energy should account for about 15 percent of Empire’s total energy need.
That amount likely is the maximum that Empire will attain for its total electrical need, but it still should elevate Empire to one of the industry’s “leading utilities” when it comes to wind energy, Mertens said.
As of August 2007, wind energy accounted for about 8.3 percent of Empire’s total supply, he said.
The Meridian Way Wind Farm will encompass about 9,000 acres in Cloud County, Kan., and will include at least 20 landowners.