September 27, 2017
Seward County Independent
Construction has commenced near Seward on a 1.7 MW GE wind turbine. With this new addition, the City of Seward will soon join the emerging list of Nebraskan towns and cities that are adding renewables and distributed generation to their energy portfolio. The current wind power project is facilitated by the City of Seward and will be owned and operated by Bluestem Energy Solutions, a company with distributed power generation expertise based in Omaha. The project is a public-private collaboration between the City of Seward and Bluestem Energy Solutions.
This new wind turbine will interconnect directly into the City of Seward’s power distribution network with all the generated electricity being used locally. This project is expected to power approximately 600 homes in the vicinity.
“For Seward to continue to be a forward-looking community, we need to take advantage of smart, renewable energy opportunities especially when it makes fiscal sense. This wind turbine will provide Seward residents with clean, renewable energy that will help supplement our community’s overall electric needs and will lower electric costs for the next 25 years,” Seward Mayor Josh Eickmeier said.
The turbine will be located on land owned by Kevin and Angela Medow, located off 350th and McKelvie Roads.
“When we were approached by Bluestem Energy Solutions to provide a site for a wind turbine, the potential of generating some additional income during the downturn in commodity prices caught our attention. But also, the idea of a single turbine to supply a portion of our local community’s energy needs, using a renewable energy source was appealing to us as well,” the Medows said.
The project is slated to be online and generating electricity for Seward no later than the end of first quarter in 2018.