With Thursday's strong winds in the KC region, many would think it's helping wind energy, but that's not necessarily the case.
David Mehlhaff, chief communications officer for Kansas City Board of Public Utilities, said strong winds many times shut down turbines.
"If winds top more than 50 mph, the turbines shut off, the perfect wind speed is around 25 to 30 mph," said Mehlhaff.
BPU gets renewable energy from two wind farms in eastern Kansas. Right now, BPU gets roughly 22 percent of its renewable energy from these two wind farms. BPU is in the process of building a third wind farm in the region.
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Alyson Bruner can be reached at alyson.bruner@kshb.com.
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