An announcement from the Kansas governor should help spur additional wind power development in the state.

Wind power advocates in Kansas got some good news from the governor Monday.

Although Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ plan doesn’t settle the controversy over whether to allow wind generators in the Kansas Flint Hills, it clearly encourages additional wind power development elsewhere in the state.

On the recommendation of a Cabinet team assigned to study ways to balance conservation efforts in the Flint Hills and development of wind energy in the state, the governor has designated an area dubbed the “Heart of the Flint Hills.” The area stretches north to south across the state cutting a swath about 45 miles wide roughly in either direction from U.S. Highway 177 through Manhattan, Council Grove and Matfield Green.

The governor is calling for developers and landowners within that area to “exercise voluntary restraint” on wind energy proposals until the state can develop local guidelines on such projects and look at alternative economic development strategies.

The “Heart of the Flint Hills” is a large area, but it is, by no means, a majority of the state. Outside that area are many potential locations for wind power development. A map produced by the Kansas Energy Council shows 14 proposed wind energy sites in addition to the single wind farm in operation near Montezuma. Half of those sites lie within the Flint Hills area in which the governor calls for “restraint,” but the other half lie east and west of that area.

Opposition to wind generators in the Flint Hills had injected an element of uncertainty for potential wind power development throughout the state. The governor’s announcement sends a signal that wind farm proposals outside the Flint Hills will be welcome and that planning for those developments can move ahead.

According to the governor’s office, the Kansas Energy Council is expected to finalize today a package of wind development incentives to help the governor develop an overall wind energy strategy for Kansas that will preserve sensitive historical and environmental aspects of the Flint Hills. That plan is needed, but there’s no reason the entire state must wait for it.

The Montezuma wind farm in southwest Kansas has been a positive development for landowners and the community. Perhaps additional wind energy developments in other parts of the state will help ease the concerns of some who oppose wind generators in the Flint Hills. At the very least, companies now know they have the state’s support in pursuing new wind-energy outlets in other parts of the state where they can produce clean, renewable power while contributing to the local economy.