De Soto ? A proposal for a wind farm is the latest suggestion for developing the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant site near De Soto.

The $70 million plan being pushed by a company from Lenexa calls for erecting 40 wind turbines, 387 feet tall, to generate electricity.

“Kansas could become the No. 1 energy exporting state in the nation,” said Troy Helming, chief executive of Kansas Wind Power L.L.C. “Why not put the world’s first renewable energy research park in Johnson County?”

Helming acknowledges, however, that the 9,065-acre Sunflower site is not the ideal location for a wind farm. Ideally, wind farms are proposed for remote locations out of the path of development and on undesirable land.

“It’s not the best site by any means in Kansas,” Helming said. “I would consider it a mediocre site at best. But because of its close proximity to the metropolitan area the transmission of the power generated from the site would be easier.”

Still, Helming’s plan is the only one for the site other than one proposed last year by Kessinger/Hunter Inc. of Kansas City, which wants to develop a more traditional community-in-a-park and research center.

Johnson County commissioners set Saturday as the deadline for all Sunflower development proposals, but also have said they wouldn’t rule out new ideas surfacing after that.

“It doesn’t mean we’re not going to listen to other ideas afterward, but at some point Kessinger/Hunter is going to get so far ahead that it isn’t going to matter,” said Don Jarrett, the commission’s attorney and chief Sunflower negotiator.

Kansas Wind Power first expressed interest in Sunflower in an Oct. 27 letter to the county.

“It’s a good-faith proposal,” Jarrett said. “It will take more evaluation and it will take some sit-down discussion.”