OTTAWA — Franklin County commissioners took note this of news that the country’s largest wind-energy company could build a commercial wind farm in southwestern Douglas County. The Baldwin City Signal reported that The Florida-based Nextera Energy Resources has talked to some landowners, and is looking for sites to place towers to measure the wind in the area to determine if it would be feasible to build a wind farm in southwestern Douglas County west of Baldwin City. Douglas County hasn’t been considered a prime location for wind farms. Although most of the Nextera’s wind farms are in western Kansas, Nextera has looked for sites close to cities where power is most needed, Steve Stengel, company spokesman, told the Signal. That caught Douglas County officials by surprise, and the county commission voted for a moratorium on wind farms while planners scramble to write regulations for wind farms. Franklin County commissioners discussed the situation and did a brief review of their regulations, which are approximately five years old. However, those rules are more geared to individual wind towers rather than commercial wind farms, they said.
Wednesday, Dec. 18, 4 p.m.
