Kansas’s Westar passes milestone of 25M megawatt hours generated from wind
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Westar energy passed a big clean-energy milestone this week.
As of Sunday, Westar has produced 25-million megawatt hours with wind alone.
Gina Penzig, Westar’s media relations manager explained just how much power that really is.
“Twenty-five million megawatt hours is kind of hard to get your head around, it’s not a number that we hear very often,” she said.
“To put it in perspective that would power the city of Topeka for about twenty-five years.”
With American Wind Week underway Westar wanted to highlight just how important that milestone is to the future of wind generation in Kansas.
Westar started experimenting with wind power 10 years ago with three wind farms.
Now Westar has 10 wind farms, with another on the way in 2020.
In fact, one-third of the energy Westar currently provides has been generated by wind.
Over the last decade Westar has increased its renewable energy generation by 1,250%.
It’s also decreased its carbon emissions by nearly 40% since 2005.
Wind plays a big part in that – Kansas is ranked third in the country for wind generation.
Penzig says that getting to 25-million megawatt hours is only the beginning.
She says Westar will continue investing in wind energy.