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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Contact Steve Shoot

Developers have announced plans for a wind energy project in northwest Missouri¹s Gentry County and local Farmers' Electric Cooperative customers will receive some power from this venture. Plans for the state's first utility-scale wind farm were announced Tuesday during a ceremony in Jefferson City. The venture will be financed by John Deere Wind Energy of Johnston, Iowa, a division of the Deere and Co. farm equipment manufacturer.

Associated Electric Cooperative Inc., will purchase power produced from the 50-megawatt wind farm. "AECI is committed to providing affordable, renewable energy options to our members," said Jim Jura, CEO and general manager of AECI. "We are particularly pleased that the wind energy we are purchasing is harvested in our service area and that this investment will be staying in our own communities."

According to Steve Shoot, FEC member services manager, the power will be distributed to AECI's distribution system. That power, in turn, will be distributed to cooperatives throughout the state, of which FEC is a member. Plans for the Bluegrass Ridge project call for 24 wind turbines to be put in a 7,000-acre area of Gentry County near King City, about 30 miles northeast of St. Joseph. The name of the project ‹ the first major wind energy venture in the state ‹ comes from the area¹s historic role in bluegrass seed harvesting.

Owners of about 12 farms have signed long-term leases to allow the turbines on their property. Construction is to start early this summer, with at least 16 windmills expected to be operational by the end of the year and the remaining eight by next spring. The project is expected to provide electric power for 15,000 to 30,000 homes, the developers said.

"It depends on how hard the wind blows," said Tom Carnahan, president of Wind Capital Group. Some maps prepared several years ago by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources showed that the northwestern region of the state had some of the best areas for wind-power development, "Wind is a clean, renewable source of affordable electricity, which has the added benefit of strengthening rural communities and helping Missouri farmers," Carnahan said in a written statement. "I am very proud to be working with Missouri's rural electric cooperatives and John Deere Wind Energy to bring this first project to our state." State Rep. Jim Guest, R-King City, said the wind farm could draw tourists to the area and will add construction jobs and more revenue for schools. "It¹s something new; it¹s something unique," he said. "It's the first one in Missouri."

Mike Waltemath, who is leasing land for the project, said landowners will get income from the turbines without losing much use of their land. "They¹re designed in almost a modernistic art form,"¹ he said. "They don¹t take up much room. They don¹t hamper the farming operation. You can run cattle around them, farm right up to them."

AECI member cooperatives' loads continue to grow, requiring the cooperative to add both year-round generation and peaking power for higher-load periods. Wind turbines will provide an intermittent, green supplemental power supply for member systems. AECI also has proposed a 660-megawatt coal plant near Norborne, Mo. According to Jura, adding wind turbines to the coal, natural gas, oil, hydropower and biomass generating resources will help improve AECI's mission of providing reliable, low-cost electricity to rural electric cooperative members.

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