Wind Energy Potential in Kansas Deemed High 04/05/01

MANHATTAN, Kan. – City dwellers see them as umbrella-destroyers, farmers see them as topsoil removers, but some Kansans sees the strong winds that blow through Kansas as an environmentally-friendly source of energy.

How Do Wind Turbines
Create Electricity?

A wind turbine works the opposite of a fan, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Instead of using electricity to make wind, like a fan, wind turbines use wind to make electricity. The wind turns the blades, which spin a shaft, which connects to a generator and make electricity.

Utility-scale turbines range in size from 50 to 750 kilowatts while single small turbines, below 50 kilowatts, are used for homes, telecommunications dishes, and water pumping.

-- Mary Lou Peter

"Wind power is becoming more and more competitive with fossil fuels," said Mark Schrock, a Kansas State University engineering professor. "One of the basic advantages of wind is that it is a form of mechanical energy. That means only small losses occur in converting it to electricity. In contrast, converting coal or natural gas to electricity usually occurs with an efficiency of 30 to 45 percent."

And Kansas, with its broad expanses of open plains, coupled with a lack of trees, urban areas, or large individual buildings, is the state with the third largest wind energy potential. North Dakota and Texas lead the nation, according to the American Wind Energy Association [AWEA].

Kansas is also one of the four states with the most land near existing transmission lines which is suitable for wind energy development, making the state a leading candidate for utility-scale wind energy development, said the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Such a resource is particularly important now, when energy costs are skyrocketing.

"I don’t see a serious downside," said Schrock, a power and machinery specialist with K-State Research and Extension, of further wind power development in the state.

Using wind as a source of power is hardly new. For centuries, wind has fueled sailing ships and provided the power to pump water for livestock and homes, as well as grind grain.

But industrialization – first in Europe and later in the United States – led to a decline in the use of windmills. The steam engine replaced European water-pumping windmills and in the 1930s, Rural Electrification Administration programs brought inexpensive power to rural areas in the United States.

In the last 10 years, however, the idea of harnessing the power of the wind and converting it into energy has drawn greater interest – and resources.

"Since 1990, new turbine designs have dramatically improved efficiency with which electricity can be harvested from the wind," said Jerry Lonergan, director of the Kansas Electric Utilities Research Program [KEURP].

Although fluctuations in fossil fuel prices have largely driven interest in using the wind as energy over the years, steps were taken during the 1990s that set the stage for dramatic changes in the future.

In 1996, the electric utility members of the Kansas Electric Utilities Research Program [KEURP], partially supported by the Utility Wind Interest Group and the U.S. Department of Energy [DOE], began investigating wind resources in Kansas. Researchers collected wind data for almost two years at six sites in Kansas and found monthly average wind speeds of 15.8 to 17 miles per hour.

The KEURP is a cooperative venture of seven electric utilities: Kansas Gas and Electric, Kansas Power and Light, Kansas City Power and Light Co., Midwest Energy, Inc., Sunflower Electric Power Corp., The Empire District Electric Co., and WestPlains Energy, Inc.

In June, 1999, U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson announced the Wind Powering America initiative to meet 5 percent of the nation’s electricity needs with wind power by 2020. The initiative also called for an increase in the federal government’s use of wind-generated electricity to 5 percent by 2010 and a doubling of the number of states that have more than 20 megawatts [MW] of wind capacity by 2005.

The "Wind Powering America" initiative also is expected to establish new sources of income for U.S. farmers, rural landowners, and Native Americans.

Also in June, 1999, Western Resources, the parent company of Kansas Gas and Electric and Kansas Power and Light utilities went online with two 750-kilowatt [kW] wind turbines near Saint Marys, Kan. They produce approximately 3.6 megawatts [MW] annually, enough to meet the power needs of about 400 households.

"The number one benefit right off the top of my head would be the very clean nature of this technology," said Les Evans, Director of Generation Strategy with Western Resources. "I mean basically, it is renewable and so we’re really not consuming anything. It’s a very clean technology in that I have no combustion process as far as consuming any fossil fuels or anything like that.

"The one barrier that I also need to mention probably, when you look at wind is the fact that today we do have some wind and the units are generating. If the wind is not blowing, however, then I’m not generating electricity and I need to have some alternate source of generation – more conventional – that can back these [turbines] up."

Despite the recent interest in wind power, there are no state tax incentives in Kansas devoted to developing the resource, according to the AWEA. There is, however, a grant program for renewable energy systems in the industrial, commercial, and public sector administered by the Kansas Corporation Commission as part of the State Energy Program, and funded with petroleum violation escrow funds. A total of $400,000 to $500,000 is available per year, with grants of up to $50,000 available. Projects with commercial applications are favored, but these grants cannot be used for research and development.

"Wind energy certainly has a niche market in Kansas, at least at this point in time, and perhaps as the technology develops and the cost continues to decrease ... there’s opportunity that we may see more and more," Evans said.

The United States is behind some countries in using wind power, but it is home to the world’s largest wind farm – a 193-MW farm that went on line in Sept. 1999 near Storm Lake, Iowa. With 257 turbines, rated at 750 kW each, the farm has brought permanent jobs to area residents and sparked an inflow of money for landowners, according to the DOE.

K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.