With a few exceptions, the Kansas wind has been anything but quiet in recent months. One of those exceptions comes from Invenergy, the company working to build a another wind farm in Ellsworth County.

Other than changes in name — the Cross County Wind Project is now the Centroid Wind Project — and its inhouse developer going from Krista Mann to Julia Kimmerly — the project appears to be at a standstill.

Ellsworth County Commissioner Kermit Rush said he hasn’t received a project update for some time.

That’s because the project is being stalled by state and federal officials that attribute their stance to the proposed farm’s proximity to the Smoky Hill Bombing Range. Officials declined further comment.

That leaves supporters wondering about their next move.

Mann said Ellsworth County landowners stand to profit and the community could potentially gain millions of dollars from the project.

Mann, who appeared at a public meeting more than a year ago in Ellsworth, has passed the development torch to Kimmerly. At the time, Mann told about 50 landowners there was a 50-50 chance construction on the wind farm could begin within the next two years.

In a recent telephone interview, she pointed to the success of another Invenergy wind project near Hays in Ellis County. A significant portion of the project output goes to Lincoln Electric System (in Lincoln, Neb.) under a long-term Power Purchase Agreement.

Her company has a good track record in Kansas, Mann said.

The Ellis County Buckeye Project began in December of 2015. The 200-megawatt wind farm has 12 full-time local employees and brings in $3 million annually to Ellis County through employee salaries, landowner fees and a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement.

Ellsworth County, for instance, already has PILOT agreements to cover two existing windfarms. Officials use the payments to hold the line on property taxes. The Ellsworth-Kanopolis-Geneseo School District also receives money from the projects.

If the Buckeye Project in Ellis County brings in $3 million a year for 200 megawatts of power, then the 600-megawatt Centroid Wind Project could be even more lucrative for Ellsworth County.

This is the kind of cash flow residents and county commissioners such as Rush want to see.

Said Mann, “When you talk to a landowner, a lot of them are farmers and ranchers, and oftentimes — particularly in Western Kansas or smaller, more rural parts of Kansas — a lot of them struggle with, ’So I’ve got three kids. Are any of them going to want to stay on the farm? Can they make a living? Can they support a family working on the farm?’ Often times, the answer is ‘no.’ Giving them a way to keep their kids in the area is a really cool attribute of wind energy.”

The project would stretch across 10 southwest Ellsworth County townships and spill over into Rice County.

By comparison, the Smoky Hills Wind Farm, north of Ellsworth along the Ellsworth-Lincoln county line, generates 250 megawatts of power, making it a little larger than the Ellis County farm.

Invenergy and its affiliated companies develop, own, and operate largescale renewable and other clean energy generation and storage facilities in the Americas, and Europe. Invenergy is committed to continued innovation in clean power solutions. Invenergy’s home office is located in Chicago and it has regional development offices in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Europe.

Invenergy and its affiliated companies have developed more than 10,300 MW of projects that are in operation, in construction, or under contract, including 76 wind, solar, and natural gas-fueled power generation projects and energy storage facilities.