Tom Carnahan has residents of northwest Missouri thinking a lot differently about the wind these days. That’s because the son of the late Gov. Mel Carnahan was the catalyst for a group effort to build Missouri’s first wind energy farm near King City.
When completed Bluegrass Ridge Wind Energy will allow farmers to harvest the wind as if it were another crop. Owners of a dozen farms have signed leases to allow the wind turbines to be erected on their land. All members of Missouri’s electric cooperatives, however, will be the ultimate beneficiaries of this new source of clean, renewable and homegrown energy.
“This is an excellent example of a project that will benefit rural counties, schools and farmers while at the same time proving the value of an untapped, renewable energy resource for the state of Missouri,” says Sen. David Klindt of Bethany, chairman of the Senate’s Commerce, Energy and the Environment Committee. Adds Rep. Jim Guest of King City, “Sometimes we consider the wind a curse or a blessing. But we are definitely going to start looking at it as a blessing when it blows through here now.”
The project will include 24 wind powered generators rising 300 feet above 7,000 acres of north Missouri landscape. Together they will have the potential to generate 50 megawatts of power, enough to meet the needs of 15,000 to 30,000 homes for a year.
Carnahan’s Wind Capital Group joined representatives of Missouri’s electric cooperatives, John Deere Wind Energy, the Department of Natural Resources and various statewide elected officials in announcing the ambitious project in a ceremony at the state Capitol on Jan. 31.
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