December 5, 2018
Wyoming

New wind farm proposed for Converse County

Wyoming News Exchange | www.gillettenewsrecord.com

If you grew up in Converse County, you might take the incessant, whipping winds for granted.

Start counting the county’s wind farms, and you can’t help but see Converse County’s wind is unusual. And it’s a financial boon.

For Converse County officials, the new Cedar Springs wind farm brings with it welcomed economic diversification.

“We’ve got oil and gas, uranium, coal, and expanding on the wind is a good investment,” Converse County Commissioner Jim Willox said. “It’s a good expansion of the Converse County economy.”

Converse County Commissioner Robert Short noted that wind farms bring with them jobs, particularly jobs that are technology-focused.

“We know that technology is key to growth in the future,” Short said. “(Cedar Springs) has got a long-term potential to influence more technological development in Converse County.”

Short noted that wind farm jobs do not provide a one-for-one replacement as coal jobs dwindle, but “every little bit helps.”

It depends a little bit on how you count, but with Cedar Springs, Converse County will have six wind farms. Cedar Springs is massive compared to several of the others. For instance, it will have double the electrical output of Duke Energy’s Top of the World (200 MW) in Rolling Hills, and more than quadruple the outputs of the Campbell Hill wind farm (90 MW) and Pioneer Wind Park (80 MW).

During last week’s public meeting on the project, NextEra Communications Director Bryan Garner talked about wind as a farmable commodity.

“It’s another crop, just like cattle,” Garner said. “Wind is a crop Wyoming can harvest to its own benefit.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/12/05/new-wind-farm-proposed-for-converse-county/