Hamilton County On Track for New Wind Farm

Kathy Hanks,  Hutchinson News,  19 April 2009

SYRACUSE — Nikki Schwerdfeger won’t believe it until she sees the blades spinning.

The Hamilton County landowner remains cautiously optimistic about the proposed 135-megawatt wind farm about to be developed near her rural Coolidge home.

One of the landowners who signed a lease for erecting wind turbines on their property, she has yet to learn if any of the around 90, 262-foot-tall turbines will spin on her land.

But the project known as Bear Creek Wind Farm, which was co-developed  by Acciona Energy, a Spanish developer of wind farms, and Global Winds Harvest was recently set in motion when Hamilton County commissioners approved a conditional land-use permit for the company.

Representatives of Acciona and Global Winds first arrived in Hamilton County in the fall of 2007. They had questions regarding zoning regulations and the best way to go about the development of the project, said John Kennedy, economic development director.

Just a month ago, after several public meetings with Acciona, the commissioners signed the resolution for the conditional land-use permit on property about 10 miles south of Coolidge, which is two miles from the Colorado border. The wind farm has the potential to eventually produce up to 500 megawatts, Kennedy said.

According to the agreement between Hamilton County and Acciona, Hamilton County will receive $321,750 generated from the electricity produced, in lieu of property taxes. That amount will be increased 2.5 percent each year according to inflation. The permit is good for four years. If there is no significant progress in four years, the permit will be null and void. Exactly when the project will begin is still tentative, according to Kennedy. However, the most recent information provided from Acciona lists a completion date for the $300 million project as 2009-10.

“With the financial markets it has gotten tougher to finance the project, and they are currently looking for a purchaser for the power,” Kennedy said.

However, a spokesperson with Acciona doesn’t foresee that as a roadblock.

“Acciona does not expect project finance to be an undue hurdle to constructing this project,” said Emily Sanders, project developer.

According to a company fact sheet, Bear Creek Wind Farm will produce enough power for nearly 40,000 homes. It will help the local economy by providing 200 construction jobs, which will be filled locally and from outside the community.

The project will also create up to 15 permanent jobs to support maintenance and operations of the wind farm.

Schwerdfeger says it’s a very competitive project, and she’s impressed with the people she has dealt with from Acciona.

“They picked a nice area without too many houses,” she said of the wind farm site. They thoughtfully considered the environment and the protection of prairie chickens and other wildlife of the area, not building in that area of Bear Creek. “I feel good about the company.”

Meanwhile, she’s sitting back, taking a wait-and-see stance.

“I’m not going to be impatient,” she said.