Wind energy company NextEra eyeing Douglas County

A Florida-based developer is exploring the possibility of building a wind farm in Douglas County.

The Lawrence Journal-World  reports that NextEra Energy Resources is looking for sites to place meteorological towers to measure the wind in the area. Company spokesman Steve Stengel says the measurements will determine if a Douglas County project would be economically feasible.

He says the company also wants to find out if there are enough landowners willing to sell easements on their land for wind turbines to make a project possible.

NextEra currently has wind energy developments in more sparsely populated western Kansas. But he said the company is always looking for new potential sites, and one of the factors it considers is the cost of transmitting wind-generated power to population centers.

Information from: Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World