The finishing touches on the 59th, and final, turbine comprising the Prairie Queen Wind Farm in northern Allen County should be done by the end of today.
The milestone will trigger a shift in getting the wind farm fully operational, which should be done by the end of the month, reported Chris Morris, project developer with EDP Renewables, which owns the wind farm.
Soon, the scores of workers responsible for erecting the turbines will be leaving Allen County, either to another EDP wind farm project in Texas, or elsewhere in the country.
But several others will remain on hand for several more months, Morris said.
That’s because EDP in the coming months will focus on reclamation, or restoring property and county roads to their pre-wind farm condition.
“It could take four, five, six months,” Morris said. “It all depends on how much needs to be done. You’ll see numbers of workers start to dwindle now that the focus shifts from construction to reclamation.”
Reclamation will run until the fall.
In the meantime, each of the 59 turbines must be inspected before Prairie Queen is certified. (Several turbines have cleared inspection and have been in operation for several weeks.)
When complete, the wind farm will be capable of generating 200 megawatts of electricity.
Prior to construction, EDP reached an agreement with KCP&L to provide electricity to the utility giant, with most of the power likely going to eastern Kansas, and the Kansas City area.
Getting the wind farm online has taken longer than expected, largely because of an extraordinarily wet winter and spring.
The original goal was to have all of the turbines up by the end of March and the wind farm fully operational at the end of May.
“It’s been slow in coming, but we’re getting pretty excited,” Morris said.
Mike Kafer of Bob Hull, Inc., Frankfort, uses a boring machine to help lay down conduit for fiber optic lines essential to sending and receiving information to and from the wind farm.
ONE OF the final key elements to getting the wind farm online is being provided courtesy of LaHarpe Telephone Co.
LaHarpe Telephone is overseeing extension of fiber optic lines from the edge of the telephone company’s service area along 3000 Street to the wind farm’s operations and maintenance building, near the intersection of South Dakota and 3400 Street — a two-mile stretch.