Press Release
There are times when Holt County residents have nothing good to say about the strong, blustery winds that often blow across North Central Nebraska.
This isn’t one of them.
Two former Atkinson residents revealed plans Friday to develop a 100-megawatt wind farm on about 11,500 acres in the northwester part of the county. The site is controlled by Gerard and Matthew Keating, both of whom grew up in Atkinson.
The announcement was made earlier this week by representatives of Chicago-based Midwest Wind Energy, a leading developer of utility-scale wind farms in the central United States. About 90 business leaders and local government officials were in attendance.
Gerard Keating, who now lives in Geneva, Ill., credits his brother Matt, a Kearney resident, for pushing the idea after completion in 2005 of the Nebraska Public Power District’s successful 60-megawatt Ainsworth wind farm. It is located 40 miles west of the proposed site of the Midwest Energy wind farm.
“Thanks to the diligent efforts of Matt and the people of Midwest Wind Energy, our dream of creating sustainable opportunity in our childhood hometown may become a reality,” Gerard Keating said. “It is rural Nebraska’s turn to experience the same prosperity and opportunity enjoyed by residents in Omaha, Lincoln and other urban areas across the country.”
The cost of the project is estimated to be $160 million, which would represent one of the largest private investments ever in rural Nebraska, according to the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. The project would generate enough clean, renewable energy to power about 40,000 Nebraska residents.
Midwest Wind Energy has formed Holt County Wind, which is a limited liability corporation, to develop, construct, own and operate the wind farm, which is scheduled for completion by the end of 2008.
If the project becomes a reality, the economic impact to Holt County will be considerable with more than $6.5 million in personal property taxes paid to local governments over a 5-to-10-year period, Keating said. In addition, approximately 15 percent of the total project cost, or $24 million, will be invested locally for material and services needed to construct the project.
About 120 jobs will be created during the one-year construction period, and eight permanent full-time jobs will be created to operate and maintain the facility.
The project is subject to approval by NPPD, which will receive a detailed proposal from Holt County Wind on Monday. The proposal will specify that Holt County Wind has secured the necessary land, local permits and the wind turbines necessary to construct the project in NPPD approves the plan.
“With all these components in place, the Holt County Wind Farm project is positioned to provide low-cost reliable wind power to NPPD with no public capital investment or risk,” said Michael Donahue, executive vice president with Midwest Wind Energy.
The Chicago-based company is affiliated with Edison Mission Group Inc., a subsidiary of power company Edison International. Eighteen wind farms are in operation or are under construction by the partnership.
NPPD spokesman Beth Boesch said, “NPPD has had some high-level discussion with them regarding this project.”
She said officials there have received little information on the wind farm so far, and it was too early to comment on the proposal.
Nebraska ranks sixth in the nation in terms of the potential for wind energy, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
But there aren’t nearly as many wind turbines in Nebraska, which is the nation’s only all public-power state, as in neighboring states. Nearby states, including Iowa and Minnesota, are both among the top five wind energy-producing states, with California producing the most.
- Story Courtesy of the Norfolk Daily News
