FRANKFORT — Austin Cline is the third generation to farm his family’s land in Marshall County.
From his driveway, he has a more than 180-degree view of neighbors’ land and native prairie grass. But by next year, he expects the horizon to be dominated by commercial wind turbines.
He and his neighbors will be in the shadow of the 300-megawatt Irish Creek Wind Farm, which is set to begin operation late this year. Neighbors who didn’t sell land to the wind farm developer, NextEra Energy Resources, are dreading the day the towering structures appear, erupting from their treasured horizon.
NextEra, headquartered in Florida, is the world’s largest renewable energy generator. It already has half a dozen wind farms in Kansas, primarily in the south central and southwestern parts of the state. It also has one wind farm in Missouri.
Kansas was early to the wind rush, dotting the state with turbines that in 2019 beat coal for the first time in generating the largest chunk of the state’s electricity. In 2020, 43% of the state’s generation came from wind, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
By comparison, 70% of Missouri’s generation comes from coal. Only 9% comes from all its renewable sources — wind, hydropower, biomass and solar — combined.
Last year, NextEra added 120 turbines in neighboring Nemaha County, surrounding Centralia and Corning.
That neighboring wind farm, which began operations in 2020, was a warning to some residents of Marshall County, who say the towers will diminish their quality of life.
In Marshall County, the company plans up to 100 turbines. Developers say the wind farm will bring 300 construction jobs and 12-15 permanent jobs to the community along with $50 million in payments to landowners who have turbines on their property and $40 million in county property taxes over the next 30 years.
In Kansas, the company is helping “fuel the state’s economic growth and quality of life and moving our country toward energy independence,” NexEra says on its website.
“The Irish Creek Wind project has received tremendous support in Marshall County,” Kennedy Conlan, a company spokesperson said in an email. “The project is providing significant benefits for the local community, including approximately $40 million in property tax revenue over the life of the project. That’s funding for local school districts, first responders, and other essential services in the community.”
Residents like Cline in Marshall County and parts of Kansas were behind a push earlier this year to regulate wind development at the state level in Kansas. Right now, it’s up to counties and cities to decide how close to residents’ homes and property lines developers can build turbines. In Marshall County, where there are no zoning rules, the county’s commission was left to negotiate those setbacks, density and other agreements with NextEra.
According to the county’s development agreement with NextEra, turbines can’t exceed 500 feet in height. They must be at least a mile from city limits and 1.1 times their height — 550 feet — from the property line of any non-participating landowner.
The proposed changes to state regulations didn’t make it far. A Senate committee heard days of testimony but didn’t take a vote. But some counties in both Kansas and Missouri have moved to restrict or ban wind development.
Proponents of Senate Bill 279 say it is necessary to protect the rights of rural landowners who aren’t part of the project but will be affected by their neighbors’ decisions.
