Kansas-Based Energy Company Plans Huge Windmill Farm In Oklahoma

NewsOn6.com

WESTERN OKLAHOMA -- A Kansas-based energy company is planning to build a 125-megawatt wind farm in Kiowa and Washita Counties in western Oklahoma.

Tradewind Energy -- which is based in Lenexa, a suburb of Kansas City -- says the Rocky Ridge Wind Project will include 75 wind turbines on 11-thousand acres of leased land.

TradeWind will build the farm in conjunction with Western Farmers Electric Cooperative or WFEC.

Construction is scheduled to start within six months and the farm should be producing wind power by January of 2012.

According to a news release from the company, it will hire about 150 workers during the construction phase.  Once it's completed, nine to ten full-time workers will be employed to monitor and maintain the facility.  The company says it will produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of 40,000 homes.

The company believes the project will contribute more than $3 million annually in direct payments to the local community via property taxes and rent payments to approximately100 landowners whose properties will host the turbines or easements.

WFEC is a generation and transmission cooperative headquartered in Anadarko. It also has facilities in Hugo and Mooreland.  Member-owners consist of 23 distribution cooperatives, located in Oklahoma and New Mexico, and Altus Air Force Base, which in turn provide electricity to more than half a million people.