Nov 10th—Spearville, KS. ECE students had the unique opportunity to visit Westar Energy’s Spearville, KS wind farm. Still under construction students were able to see the process of installing and setting up a complex energy system. The tour included a visit to the interconnect substation that connects the wind farm to the electric grid. This wind farm will add 120 Siemens 2.3 MW turbines this add a total of 280 MW of power to the grid. This farm started construction in April and weather permitting, all turbines should be in place by Nov 18th. Once all the turbines are in place they will connect to the grid (pending FERC compliance). Students were able to climb into the nacelle to see the motor/gearbox and the hub where the 3 (180 ft) blades attached.
This visit was sponsored by the Electrical Power Affiliates Program.