Harnessing the potential of wind

New technology utilizes ancient energy idea

The tried-n-true windmill — they’re the staple of almost any farm, about as familiar a landmark as the big red barn or the stable of cattle. 

And like the barn and stable, the windmill once played, and continues to play, an instrumental part in the daily life of a farm.

Simply put, a windmill is a machine powered by the energy of the wind. In much of Europe, windmills were used to grind grain. Here in America, they’re used to pump water from a well or to generate electricity for a building or even the farmhouse.

Michael and Paige Dwyer utilize a windmill built more than 60 years ago on their three acres in southern Jasper County. They still use it to pump water out to their small head of cattle.

“It’s an old relic,” Paige said, “but it does its job. If we replaced it, we’d just have to spend more money doing what it’s already doing.”

The multi-bladed wind turbine atop a lattice tower made of wood or steel was, for many years, a fixture of the landscape throughout rural America. In some areas, like the Dwyer’s residence, it still is. These windmills, made by a variety of manufacturers, features a large number of blades so they turn slowly with considerable torque in low winds, as well as being self-regulating in high winds. A tower-top gearbox and crankshaft converted the rotary motion into reciprocating strokes carried downward through a rod to the pump cylinder below.

While the applications may be new, the windmill itself is anything but — the first structure was invented in Persia. And windmills were the unfortunate targets of Miguel de Cervante’s famous Don Quixote de La Mancha, who believed the windmills were actually threatening giants.

In the United States, the development of the water-pumping windmill was the major factor in allowing the farming and ranching of vast areas of North America, which were otherwise devoid of readily accessible water.

They contributed to the expansion of rail transport systems throughout the world, by pumping water from wells to supply the needs of the steam locomotives of those early times.

Windmills and related equipment are still manufactured and installed today on farms and ranches, usually in remote parts of the western United States where electric power is not readily available.

The arrival of electricity in rural areas, brought by the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in the 1930s through 1950s, contributed to the decline in the use of windmills in the US. Today, the increases in energy prices and the expense of replacing electric pumps has led to an increase in the repair, restoration and installation of new windmills.

And while the windmills are making a comeback, they have also continued to evolve. While one windmill could pump water for cattle or light up the night inside a lonely farmhouse, today entire wind “farms” are lighting up entire cities.

Things sure have changed.

The Elk River Wind Project is located north of Beaumont in Kansas, just east of Wichita. It’s only natural that Kansas, the state with the third most robust wind resource in the nation, is home to this unique project, which is a 150-megawatt wind energy production site.

Surrounded by pastureland and grazing cattle, intersected by dusty roads, the Wind Project site is a perfect example of a clash between “old” and “new.”

Shadowing these grazing cattle are these white, monolithic structures, reaching nearly 400 feet into the sky, each weighing 235-tons. Remember, one megawatt of wind power produces enough electricity to serve 250-350 average homes.

Ironically, the energy created by these massive towers, looking almost alien among the Flint Hills, are sold to Empire Electric District and utilized by none other than Joplin residents.

And near the Missouri/Nebraska border sits the tiny town of Rock Port, which became the first U.S. community to operate solely on wind power.

“That's something to be very proud of, especially in a rural area like this, we're doing our part for the environment,” said Jim Crawford, University of Missouri Extension natural resource engineer. “Anybody who is currently drawing their utility through Rock Port utilities can expect really no rate increase for the next 15 to 20 years.”

While the solitary windmill is a vision of the past and the sprawling, moaning wind turbines are glimpses into America’s energy future, both serve a unique purpose — to make lives as easy as possible.