Sunflower Electric Power Corporation has announced it has completed negotiations with TradeWind Energy, LLC for the purchase of 50.4MW of energy generated by wind turbines at its Smoky Hills Wind Farm, Kansas, USA.

The project site is located 25 miles west of Salina, just north of Interstate 70 between Ellsworth and Lincoln. The contract between Sunflower and TradeWind Energy is a 20-year renewable energy purchase agreement. It is anticipated that construction will be completed and energy available to Sunflower prior to the end of 2007. Sunflower currently owns a 595 megawatt fleet of coal-based and natural gas generating units located in Finney County, Kansas near Holcomb and Garden City. The addition of this contract means it will have nearly 8 per cent of its generating capacity reliant on the Kansas winds.