COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) -- After nearly ten years of operation, the two 750-kilowatt wind turbines at the Springview Wind Energy Facility will be retired and sold.

The Nebraska Public Power District, and its utility partners in the project, have agreed to sell the turbines for $835,000 to FPL Energy LLC of Juno Beach, Fla. The decision was prompted by maintenance issues with the turbines and the fact that replacement parts are hard to find.

The utility paid a little more than $1 million for the two turbines that started operating in 1998 as a demonstration project, spokesman Mark Becker said. The Springview project verified that available turbine technology worked and wind power efficiently could produce power in Nebraska.

"Selling the existing units that have become obsolete is a good business decision for our customers, and it is a great window of opportunity to move toward new wind turbine technology," said Ron Asche, NPPD's president and CEO.

NPPD gets about 1 percent of its power from renewable energy, but officials have said they would like to generate about 5 percent of the utility's power from renewable energy.

The utility plans to continue researching new wind technologies at the Springview site, and will add additional turbines to its Ainsworth wind power facility.

NPPD and its utility partners are considering buying two 900-kilowatt, direct-drive wind turbines to test newer technology at the Springview site.

Work on installing those new turbines could begin as soon as January and be completed in June 2009 at the earliest.

The other utilities that backed the 1998 Springview project are Lincoln Electric System, Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska, city of Grand Island, city of Auburn, and KBR Public Power District.

NPPD owns and operates Nebraska's largest wind energy facility near Ainsworth. The utility said it wants to add 15-megawatts of additional generating capacity to the 60 megawatts of energy capacity already in place. The Ainsworth facility has 36 turbines.

NPPD also plans to pursue new wind energy projects in partnership with private entities or community groups. Those projects could add another 100 megawatts of wind power in the state.