About seven trucks will transport the dismantled turbine, going west on Highway 24, north on Highway 99, west on Highway 36 and south on Highway 81 into Concordia. Transport to Concordia is expected to take about one day. The second JEC turbine will likely be donated to a local university.
The 750 kilowatt wind turbines were installed at JEC in the late 1990s for testing and development of commercial wind power in Kansas. The turbines produced around 2.9 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually, enough electricity to meet the needs of more than 300 households. These units were the first commercially operated wind turbines in the state used by a utility and they have helped Westar Energy develop the wind energy program of its kind in Kansas. Westar Energy added nearly 300 megawatts of clean, renewable energy to its grid with the construction of three wind farms: Central Plains in Wichita county, Flat Ridge in Barber county and Meridian Way in Cloud county. Earlier this year, Westar Energy announced it was seeking proposals to add up to an additional 500 megawatt of renewable energy to its generation portfolio.
“These turbines have served their purpose for Westar Energy and its customers,” said Ken Johnson, vice president, generation. “Within the past year, the completion of construction of new wind generation has helped rank Westar among the top 10 utilities in the nation for wind power per customer. It’s exciting to see these machines serve yet another purpose – helping educate prospective future employees in the expanding wind energy field, right here in Kansas.”
