A $190 million project to harness the wind in the Flint Hills is under way.
The Elk River Windfarm eventually will have 100 turbines, each 260 feet tall, on 8,000 acres in the southern reaches of the Flint Hills. PPM Energy of Portland, Oregon, is putting up the turbines on land about 40 miles east of Wichita.
Road work and site preparation have just begun. Once complete, the wind farm is expected to generate 150 megawatts of electricity each year, enough to power 42-thousand homes. The four-state Empire District Electric Company will buy the power.
Two lawsuits aimed at blocking the project are still pending.
Opponents say the turbines will be a blight on the nation's last remaining stand of tallgrass prairie.
