Zilkha awaits go-ahead for Kansas 110 MW project

Zilkha Renewable Energy will have to wait until later this month to find out whether its 100-110 MW Rosalia wind project in south eastern Kansas gets the go-ahead from county officials. A procedural error in the public notification process delayed a decision by the Butler County Board of Commissioners. The project is the first in the eastern part of the state and has run into some opposition from environmentalists. They worry that a wind farm in the Flint Hills region, an area nearly as large as New Hampshire, could harm one of the few remaining stands of native tallgrass prairie in the world. Zilkha's Wayne Walker says the two can co-exist and points out that public opinion in favour of installing 67-73, 1.5 MW turbines across private land is running six to one. Still, some want Zilkha to move it to a location nearby. But Walker says that would put the project too far from transmission lines making it uneconomic. Meantime, Audubon Society's Ron Klataske wants the state to devise siting protocols for wind power development to ease the process.