primarily grazing land - SEE the cows?
all lined up
the old way
almost 8000 acres of grassland
multipurpose land - got OIL? check out the tiny power poles!Elk River Wind Project, Beaumont, Kansas - about 45 miles east of Wichita.
Saturday afternoon we set out looking for the wind farm near Beaumont, Kansas. Heading east on highway 400, the turbine towers were easy to spot from a long distance. We followed the signs for Beaumont, the towers getting bigger the further we drove.
The road turned to gravel, the drive was peaceful, the only sound was the wind whistling through the turbines, an occasional bump or clang of metal... the resident cows stopped and stared as we drove by. The size of the turbine towers was awesome.
The Elk River Wind Project is a 150 megawatt (MW) wind energy project located in Butler County, Kansas. Empire District Electric Company anticipates it will purchase approximately 550,000 megawatt hours of energy annually from the project, enough energy to meet the annual needs of about 42,000 homes.
Project Capacity: 150 MW
Number of Wind Turbines: 100
Wind Turbine Supplier: GE Energy
Turbine Height (to the tip of the highest blade): 389 feet
Turbine Weights:
Tower: 270,000 lbs.
Rotor: 73,000 lbs.
Nacelle: 115,000 lbs.
Foundation: Each wind turbine foundation consists of a concrete octagonal spread footing 48 feet in diameter. Footprint: 48 feet in diameter, spaced 500 to 1000 feet apart within each string.
Concrete: 248 cubic yards per turbine or 27,000 total cubic yards (2,700 truckloads)
