Hog Farm Cuts Costs, Offsets Resource Consumption with 240 kW wind project supplied by Halus

Plains, KS, August 29, 2005- Two remanufactured 120 kW wind turbines were commissioned today by Halus Power Systems.  The turbines were installed at Kansas-Smith Farms and will provide a portion of the energy used by the large commercial hog feeding operation.

The turbines were originally manufactured by the Vestas, and were remanufactured by Halus Power Systems in 2005.  The turbines have a blade diameter of approximately 66 feet and are mounted on tubular towers, with an 80 foot hub height.  Each has an installed capacity of 120kW.   With a 240 kW total installed capacity, this is one of the largest remanufactured wind turbine projects to be developed in North America to date.

Another unique feature of these turbines is a new web-enabled SCADA system that allows the user to view production data and, with proper authorization, control many functions on the turbine.  A live view of one of the turbines at the farm can be viewed at http://209.137.218.19 .  To enter into the viewing, simply click the "Cancel" button on the popup login window (some functions and values are disabled for public viewing).  If no login popup loads, you may need to update to the newest version of Java software here.

Kansas-Smith Farms is located a few miles from Liberal, Kansas, a town that touts itself as the “official home of Dorothy” of “The Wizard of Oz” fame.  As the classic story suggests, the region has a significant wind resource, with several large scale wind farms in various stages of operation, construction, and planning in Southern Kansas. 

The farm consists of numerous large housing facilities for hogs.  The scale of the operation requires large amounts of energy for both cooling in the summer and heating in the winter.  The turbines were installed at two separate facilities on the farm, ensuring that the turbine generation is spread across two utility accounts, so that most of the turbines’ production is used for baseline loads as produced.  This configuration provides the farm with the optimal payback, as Kansas does not currently have a net metering program, so that no retail credit would be provided to the farm for generation fed into the grid and not immediately consumed. 

The turbines were purchased from Halus by Geocorp, a Kansas-based company that was directed by the farm owner to source and develop the project.  Geocorp performed most of the project’s construction management and local construction sourcing, and Halus was onsite for the crane erection, turbine startup, testing, and commissioning. 

Contrary to most renewable energy projects, this project was financed solely by the farm owner, without any federal or state grants, rebates or other forms of assistance.  Based on the farm’s electric cost (about $0.10 per KWh), the project’s payback is expected to be about 6 years, making the economics very attractive without even considering the environmental benefits.