Holton commission signs deal for wind power

Wind power is coming to Holton through an agreement between the city and a western Kansas “wind farm,” the Holton City Commission noted during their regular meeting on Monday.

According to the agreement, which received commissioners’ unanimous approval during the meeting, the city will receive a wind power allocation of up to 1.5 megawatts of power from the Buckeye Wind Farm in Ellis County near Hays for 15 years “at a very reasonable rate,” according to Holton City Manager Kerwin McKee.

The power allotment from Buckeye will further diversify the types of electricity that the city receives from a number of sources, a significant amount of it coming from a Kansas Municipal Energy Agency (KMEA) power pool, it was noted.

“It’s nice to have a piece of green energy,” McKee said, noting that the new agreement will not have any effect on Holton utility customers’ power bills.

Holton Electrical Production Superintendent Ira Harrison reminded commissioners that the city also has ongoing agreements with the Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA) in Oklahoma, NextEra Energy, headquartered in Juno Beach, Fla., and the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), headquartered in Denver, Colo., for a total of about 6.7 megawatts.

The city uses about five megawatts a day at present, and at times during the summer, the total gets up to about 12 megawatts, Harrison said.

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