JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Wind Capitol Group president Tom Carnahan sees himself as being a bit like Don Quixote, the hero of Cervantes’ famous novel.

“Don Quixote tilted at windmills, and people thought he was out of his mind,” he said. “And here I was trying to build windmills in Missouri, and people had the same reaction.”

But Mr. Carnahan’s project isn’t fiction. On Tuesday, he joined state officials and private investors at the Capitol to formally unveil his Bluegrass Ridge wind energy project, to be built near King City, Mo.

Bluegrass Ridge, the first significant wind energy project in the state, would feature 24 Suzlon S-88 wind turbines in a 7,000-acre area of Gentry County. The turbines would generate power for 15,000 to 30,000 homes.

“It depends on how hard the wind blows,” Mr. Carnahan said.

Two thirds of the project would be up and running by the end of the year. The final eight turbines will be installed in the spring of 2007. Local officials are looking forward to a number of economic benefits from the project, such as a construction boom, jobs, revenue for schools — even tourism.

“That’s going to be a draw,” said Rep. Jim Guest, R-King City. “It’s something new, it’s something unique. It’s the first one in Missouri.”

Mike Waltemath, who will have some of the turbines on his Gentry County property, said landowners will get income from the turbines without losing much use of their land.

“They’re designed in almost a modernistic art form,” he said. “They don’t take up much room. They don’t hamper the farming operation. You can run cattle around them, farm right up to them.”

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources put together a series of “wind maps” a few years ago, showing that Northwest Missouri was among the best areas in the state for wind energy development.

Mr. Carnahan’s King City project, as well as a similar project he’s proposed for Atchison County, are the first to take advantage of Northwest Missouri’s potential.

“Sometimes it’s just a matter of the right timing for issues,” said Carla Klein of the Missouri Sierra Club, which supports the project as a source of clean energy. “With energy prices going up, all of our entrenchments overseas, people are realizing it’s time to look at our homegrown resources.”

The project is being financed by John Deere Wind Energy, a division of the agricultural equipment manufacturer. Springfield, Mo.-based Associated Electric Cooperative would distribute the electricity.