Empire anticipates that it will purchase approximately 550,000
megawatt-hours of energy annually from the project, enough energy to meet the
annual needs of about 42,000 homes.
In making the announcement, Brad Beecher, vice president, Energy Supply for
Empire stated: "Today's contract signing is a major step in ensuring that
our customers benefit from a balanced mix of generation options."
Beecher continued, "This project is expected to provide about ten percent
of our energy resources, and we anticipate taking delivery of the energy about
December 1, 2005."
"We are pleased to be building our first wind power plant in Kansas, the
state with the third most robust wind resource in the nation," said Terry
Hudgens, CEO of PPM. "The Elk River Project is the third we have
announced so far that is expected to go into commercial operation in 2005 and
we look forward to additional growth and geographic expansion in 2005."