Four Sierra Club energy activists -- Susan Brown, Antonio Cutolo-Ring, Ron McLinden and Claus Wawrzinek -- recently returned from an open house at the new 27-turbine Blue Grass Ridge wind farm north of Kansas City. The facility is being developed by Tom Carnahan's Wind Capital Group with financing from John Deere.

McLinden says the Club has been working with Associated Electric Cooperatives, Inc, which also operates coal plants, to consider alternatives to coal. “This one wind farm won't do the whole job, but it’s a huge step in the right direction. Efficiency programs are another key part of the solution."

Speaking of huge, McLinden says the turbines are “enormous” -- the tower consists of four segments, each more than 60 feet high, and the three-bladed rotors are nearly 290 feet across. See for yourself.

Here are some excerpts from McLinden’s report:

October 20, 2006—Gentry County, Missouri

This afternoon, Claus Wawrzinek and I attended an open house event near King City (in Gentry county, about 75 miles north of Kansas City) to see the wind farm being installed by Wind Capital Group (Tom Carnahan's firm) for Associated Electric Cooperatives, Inc., the umbrella entity for 51 local electric coops in Missouri. Club members Susan Brown and Antonio Cutolo-Ring, who are also active in Concerned Citizens of Platte County, also attended.

This wind farm will consist of 27 wind turbines for a total generating capacity of 57 MW. Output from three of the turbines will meet Columbia's renewable energy requirement, and power from the remaining 24 turbines will go to the coop.

As we waited to go on a guided tour, two huge trucks hauling rotor blades arrived with a Highway Patrol escort.

We visited one of the turbine sites, as well as the site of the switching station where power from the 27 turbines will be fed into the electric power grid.

Source:
http://www.sierraclub.org/planet/200606/bigmissouriwind.asp