Garden City’s power portfolio now includes expanded wind energy

Garden City, KS(westernkansasnews.com) The municipal electric utility now uses more than 30 percent renewable energy resources to serve its customers after the City began taking a portion of its power needs from Buckeye Wind Energy Center on June 1.

Garden City is a member of the Kansas Municipal Energy Agency, which assists municipal electric utilities in securing low-cost power to serve residential and commercial customers. As a member city, Garden City takes advantage of KMEA’s ability to pool electric needs with other cities to secure such projects as Buckeye Wind Energy Center. KMEA entered into a contract with Invenergy, the owner of Buckeye Wind Energy Center, to purchase power for 21 of its member cities including Garden City.

“I’m pleased that the City could participate in the Buckeye project to help bring low-cost, reliable power to the City,” said Garden City Mayor Roy Cessna.

Buckeye Wind Energy Center, located north of Interstate 70 between Hays and Ellis, is a 200-megawatt wind farm consisting of 112 General Electric wind turbines at 80-meter hub height.

“From the Texas panhandle through North Dakota, the United States is flush with wind energy production with more to be installed,” said City of Garden City Public Utilities Director Mike Muirhead. “The prevalent wind makes Kansas one of the top states for wind energy production.”