Wind power in Missouri
Wind power in Missouri has an installed capacity of 959 MW from 499 turbines, as of 2016. This provided 1.29% of the state's electricity production.
Missouri's total wind generation potential is estimated to be 340 GW.
Installed capacity
As of 2016, Missouri had 959 MW of installed capacity, all installed in the north-west corner of the state. At least six wind farms were developed by Wind Capital Group between 2006 and 2009. As of 2017, the largest wind farm in the state came online, the 300 MW Rock Creek Wind Farm in Atchison County.Northwest Missouri is considered the windiest portion of the state and clips the windiest portion of the country which is known as Tornado Alley.
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| Megawatts of generating capacity |
ImageSize = width:350 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:36 bottom:20 top:10 right:10 AlignBars = justify Period = from:0 till:7500 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1000 start:0 PlotData= color:skyblue width:20 bar:2008 from:start till:203 text:203 bar:2009 from:start till:499 text:499 bar:2010 from:start till:925 text:925 bar:2011 from:start till:1179 text:1,179 bar:2012 from:start till:1245 text:1,245 bar:2013 from:start till:1165 text:1,165 bar:2014 from:start till:1130 text:1,130 bar:2015 from:start till:1034 text:1,034 bar:2016 from:start till:1122 text:1,122 bar:2017 from:start till:2031 text:2,031 bar:2018 from:start till:2836 text:2,836 bar:2019 from:start till:2857 text:2,857 bar:2020 from:start till:3345 text:3,345 bar:2021 from:start till:6608 text:6,608 bar:2022 from:start till:7468 text:7,468 bar:2023 from:start till:6775 text:6,775 bar:2024 from:start till:6790 text:6,790 |
| Million kilowatt-hours of electricity |
| Project | County | City | Turbines | Nominal Power | Commissioned | Notes |
| Bluegrass Ridge | Gentry | King City | 27 | 56.7 | 2008 | Developed by Wind Capital Group. Wind Capital's founder is Tom Carnahan, son of Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan and U.S. Senator Jean Carnahan |
| Clear Creek Energy Center | Nodaway | Maryville | 111 | 242 | 2020 | Developed by Tenaska with lease by Associated Electric Cooperative in Springfield to provide power for rural electric cooperatives in Missouri, Iowa and Oklahoma. |
| Conception | Nodaway | Conception | 24 | 50.4 | 2008 | Developed by Wind Capital Group |
| Cow Branch | Atchison | Rockport | 24 | 50.4 | 2008 | Developed by Wind Capital Group |
| Farmers City | Atchison | Westboro | 73 | 146.0 | 2009 | Owned by and developed by Iberdrola Renovables. |
| High Prairie | Adair, Schuyler | Marshfield,Seymour | 175 | 400 | 2020 | Project started by Terra-Gen_LLC., currently owned by Ameren since December 2020. Taken offline from 2024-2025 due to the collapse of three turbines. |
| Loess Hills | Atchison | Rockport | 4 | 5.0 | 2008 | First city in US to get its total power from wind. Developed by Wind Capital Group |
| Lost Creek Ridge | DeKalb | Union Star | 100 | 150.0 | 2011 | Developed by Wind Capital Group and later sold to Pattern Energy. |
| Osborn | Dekalb | Osborn | 88 | 176.0 | 2016 | Developed and owned by NextEra Energy. |
| Rock Creek | Atchison | York | 150 | 300.0 | 2017 | Largest in Missouri and cost $500 Million Owned and developed by Enel Green Power. |
| White Cloud | Nodaway | Maryville | 89 | 236.5 | 2020 | Owned and developed by Enel Green Power. 11 Vestas and 78 Siemens Gamesa turbines. Cost was $380 million. |
Transmission capacity
There have been several attempts at getting regulatory approval of transmission lines to carry wind power, either to the load centers of Missouri, or through Missouri, from major wind power producers in the Great Plains states to load centers further east.Completed
- The Midwest Transmission Project is a 180-mile 345-kV transmission line which became active in 2017. It connects the Omaha Public Power District (at its Nebraska City, Nebraska substation with the Kansas City Power & Light substation at Sibley, Missouri and has one major substation in Maryville, Missouri. The line was not specifically designed to supplement the wind grid but FAQ notes it "will create opportunities for existing and new future wind energy to access to the regional transmission system." It is a priority project of the Southwest Power Pool.
- The Mark Twain Transmission Project was proposed by Ameren to connect Palmyra, Kirksville and Iowa. Approval was given for construction by each of the counties the transmission lines passed through, and the line was energized in January 2020.
Proposed
- The Grain Belt Express is a proposed 4 GW transmission line from western Kansas to Indiana. The Missouri Public Service Commission twice rejected the proposal, initially due to questions of the benefits of the project to the state, and later due to a lack of assent from all counties. The Missouri Eastern District Court of Appeals ruled the commission erred in its second rejection, but sent the case to the Missouri Supreme Court. The company was awarded the right to use eminent domain for the necessary easments to complete the project, but asserted that most had been acquired through negotiations with landowners. The Department of Energy awarded the project a $4.9 billion conditional loan guarantee in late 2024. This loan guarantee was later canceled in 2025, though the project was reported as continuing with private financing as of September 2025.
Planned growth
In October 2017, the Empire District Electric Company proposed installing 500 MW of wind turbines in Jasper, Barton, Dade, and Lawrence counties.In February 2019, E.ON announced plans for a 150 MW wind farm northwest of Columbia, Missouri in rural Boone County.