Wind
turbines teach schools lessons in economics, environment
by
Kevon Storie
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Construction phase of Forest City High Schools' wind project shows hub of turbine stands about 9 feet high.
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School children used to think about flying kites when the wind kicked up, but with wind turbines becoming a familiar site in more and more school yards, blustery days may now remind kids that their classrooms are running on clean, renewable energy.
Three schools in Western's
service area have discovered that generating their own power
can be good for the budget, the environment and the curriculum.
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| The interior of the generator housing
with the generator, gear box and disk brake gives size perspective
of Forest City Community Schools' wind turbine. |
In 1997, Lac qui Parle Valley High School was the first public school in Minnesota to receive government funding for a wind project. South of the border in Iowa, Forest City Community Schools threw the switch on its wind generator four years ago, and Spirit Lake Community School District's five- building campus boasts not one, but two wind turbines.
School board embraces innovation
Each
school's path to becoming an energy producer was different,
but behind all of the projects were people thinking about the
future. "One of our board members—our board president,
now—was watching a flag football game on a windy day about
12 years ago," recalled Jim
Tirevold, director of buildings and grounds for Spirit Lake. "He turned to the superintendent, who was with him, and said, 'Wouldn't it be nice if we could harness this.'
"The
same member later read an article on wind power and approached
the board of education with the idea. The board was intrigued
and began to investigate the technology. We have a unique school
system in that board members are very willing to look at innovative
ways of doing things," Tirevold explained.
The school entered into a partnership with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to perform the feasibility study and request a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The grant provided half the funding for a 250-kW turbine, with a low-interest loan from the state covering the rest of the cost.
The second
turbine—a 750 kW unit which went on-line a little over
a year ago—was purchased through a low-interest loan from
the Iowa Energy Center's
Alternate Energy Revolving Loan Program.
The balance was funded by a DNR-approved, low-interest loan
from a commercial bank. The DNR also performed the second feasibility
study.
With the money saved on utility bills, the school district paid off the first wind generator a little over five years after going on-line. The net-metered turbine feeds power directly to the elementary school building, and Alliant Energy Company credits Spirit Lake 6.02 cents per kW for surplus energy. "The school has since netted $96,000 from the project that goes into other district programs," said Tirevold.
The newer,
larger turbine is net-billed and produces about three times
as much power as the first. Due to changes in utility legislation,
it receives less credit per kWh, but Tirevold still projects
that it will pay for itself by 2007. "After that, Spirit
Lake will have about $120,000 tax- free income from the clean,
renewable northwest Iowa wind to spend on our children's education,"
he concluded.
Student project creates utility savings
The first person to see Forest City Community School District as a potential energy producer was a student. A physics class doing a study of wind energy placed an anemometer on the campus water tower to measure wind speed. Senior Paul Smith used the data to do a feasibility study on a wind turbine and found that the 80-acre campus might indeed be a viable site.
Smith and teacher Ron
Kvale took the findings to the school board, which agreed
to continue the project. "The board was fascinated, so
it hired an engineering firm to conduct further studies and
research equipment," said Superintendent Dwight
Pierson. "It turned out that there were a lot of
sources for this information, but we learned about them only
by going through the process."
Part of the process included an energy audit of the campus to plug any energy leaks. "That was an important step," noted Kvale. "Why go to the trouble of building a generator if your facility is wasting the energy you are going to produce?"
Forest City selected a 600-kW turbine and financed it with the combination of an AERLP loan and a low-interest loan from a local bank, a source of pride to Pierson. "Ours is the only school district in Iowa with a fully-financed wind turbine."
Since it started producing in January, 1999, the turbine has generated almost 4 million kWh or $230,000 worth of electricity. A portion of that dollar value comes from the Federal Renewable Energy Production Incentive of 1.5 cents per kWh. "Western helped us apply for that and we've used it to make payments," Pierson acknowledged.
The superintendent
also praised the Forest City Municipal Utilities and the city
council for agreeing to credit the school district kilowatt
for kilowatt. The turbine will be paid off in nine years, Pierson
estimates, and utility savings of nearly $50,000 annually can
be used to enhance the curriculum.
Minnesota school becomes pioneer in small wind projects
Lac qui Parle Valley School District got into the energy business when the Minnesota Department of Public Service (now called the Department of Commerce) issued a request for proposals from schools interested in becoming wind test sites. The state chose LQPV High School to receive a $60,000 grant to install a 225-kW generator; the balance came from an interest free loan from the DPS.
"The project was pretty unusual at the time," said Robert Munsterman, LQPV superintendent. "The nearest wind units were on the Buffalo Ridge about 70 miles southwest of us. Now, with the state's renewable energy standard, turbines are springing up all over the state," he added.
The turbine produces about 430,000 kWh per year, or 25 percent of the 196,000 sq. ft. facility's energy needs. When school is not in session, Ottertail Power Company, LQPV's power provider, buys the surplus energy. Those sales, combined with the 1.5 cent/kWh Federal credit and a matching state incentive allow the district to stick to its 10-year pay back schedule on the loan. Although the economics of the small wind turbines vary widely from school to school, all agree that state and Federal incentives play a big role in making the projects viable.
Turbines prepare children for a renewable future
Not all rewards have a dollar sign attached, however, as the school districts have discovered. "Forest City is the only community in Iowa that looks forward to windy days," Pierson insists. "The community is very proud to be doing something for the environment. People call me if they don't see the blades turning."
Turbines
also make great teaching aids for subjects from science to creative
writing. Forest City physics classes continue to use their generator
to illustrate principles of kinetic energy and Kvale, who maintains
the
school's wind power Web site, hopes to some day be able
to display real-time data on energy production. The best part,
though, according to Jim Tirevold, is that "Spirit Lake
kids get to see wind power firsthand instead of just hearing
about it."
In a world that will increasingly rely on renewable energy as those students grow up, that could be the biggest benefit of all.