With over 1,000 miles of new transmission lines planned for construction in the next 3-5 years, "Kansas is a hotspot for wind farm development," says Susan Nickerson of the Kansas Department of Commerce.

To learn more about new business opportunities from this construction boom, a crowd of 175, including regional contractors, suppliers, and service providers from around the state, assembled in WichitaÕs Convention Hall on August 9 for a GLWN Supply Chain Workshop on Wind Farm Construction and Logistics. Featured speakers included Brian Abeld from Mortenson Construction, Aaron Weigel of TradeWind Energy, and Shannon Posey of TVIG. Also present on a panel answering questions from the audience were officials from Barnhart, RMT, the MYR Group, and Wind Capital Group.

Key themes stressed throughout the program were the inherent complexity of wind projects and the importance of finding capable local supply partners that can adapt to changing circumstances to help keep schedules on-track. For more information on this or other GLWN supply chain workshops, please contact Ed Weston.