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Wind Turbines generate cash for schools

Northfield school leaders want to harness the wind, so they’re contemplating staking some $1.65 million in debt on a turbine that could generate enough energy to power about 600 homes, by far the largest wind project operated by a public school in the Midwest and maybe the country.

BY TAMMY J. OSEID
Pioneer Press

That’s enough to supply 90 percent of the 4,000-student district’s electricity, but the wind whipping through the bucolic college town south of the Twin Cities won’t be powering school buildings. Instead, the district would sell the energy for somewhere between $77,000 and $120,000 a year, then use the cash to pay off the turbine and for general school expenses.

Northfield board members will decide soon whether to take out a loan for the turbine or ask voters for bond money. The board wants first to make sure it will at least pay for itself. But it’s the kind of project that long-term could generate dollars in tight budget times to pay for smaller class sizes or new programs or prevent future cuts, said Northfield superintendent Terry Tofte.

"We’re very enthusiastic about it primarily for the educational and social responsibility benefits, but if there’s savings on top of that, it would be frosting on the cake," Tofte said.

Northfield science and math lesson plans would frequently revolve around the 260-foot-tall turbine as would social studies classes about policy and renewable energy, said assistant Northfield High School principal Jeff Eckhoff, who has been working to bring wind power to the district for about a year and a half. Carleton College also plans to erect a similar Northfield turbine this fall.

"If we can do it here in Northfield, it can be done anywhere," said Carol Overland, a Northfield energy attorney working on the project.

Northfield leaders have nabbed one $150,000 state grant already and are trying for others. They’re also seeking an opinion from the Minnesota attorney general’s office that generating electricity is an appropriate venture for school districts, akin to cities operating municipal liquor stores.

In Iowa, that business is paying off for eight school systems that have powered up wind turbines over the last decade. Until recently, only one Minnesota district had installed a turbine.

Only a handful of other schools nationwide operate turbines, perhaps because the steep initial costs are a hurdle most public schools can’t overcome, said Christine Real de Azua, spokeswoman for the American Wind Energy Association. Many schools opt for smaller, cheaper turbines, but in the long term that results in greater expenses in producing each kilowatt of energy.

Although some of the early programs received state and federal grants that covered most initial costs, most districts in Iowa have taken out private or state-subsidized loans to finance their projects.

Five years ago, the 1,450-student Forest City school district in northern Iowa borrowed $673,000 to buy a turbine. It was the first Iowa district to do so without any grants or incentives.

"At that time, some people would say that it was out on the edge," said Forest City superintendent Dwight Pierson. "As we look back now, it was excellent decision by the community."

Although that turbine was down for several months at the end of 2003 for repairs, it’s saving the district some $60,000 annually and has added about $20,000 annually in federal incentives to the district’s coffers.

Most schools with wind turbines first use the energy to power their school buildings then sell the excess to power companies. Northfield plans to place a turbine about two miles due east of Carleton College too far from its buildings to make that feasible. Simply selling power to Xcel Energy for about 3.3 cents per kilowatt would be cheaper than connecting the turbine to far-flung school buildings, said Chris Ludewig, a Northfield electrical engineer who has worked on the project. Without additional state or federal grants or incentives, it would be difficult to make the project pay off, Ludewig said.

Those pennies per kilowatt can mean the difference between a turbine that quickly pays for itself or one that fails, said Tom Wind, a consultant based near Ames, Iowa, who has worked on turbines in Iowa and southern Minnesota.

Only one out of every four or five sites Wind examines are windy enough and close enough to utilities willing to pay well for the energy to actually make money, he said. "Wind turbines don’t always save as much money as their owners would like," he said.

More commercial wind farms, municipal utilities and private farmers are building turbines to capture the energy of the strong winds blowing across Midwestern prairies.

Until recently only one Minnesota district, Lac Qui Parle Valley schools, operated a wind turbine. Pipestone district just launched a turbine in 2003. Wayzata school district is still exploring such a project.

In Northfield, a district that educates the sons of grade-school educated farmers side by side with the daughters of professors at Carleton and St. Olaf colleges, the proposal seems to have generated strong — and rare — communitywide support.

While the district’s operating levy this fall passed by just 52 percent, nearly 80 percent of respondents said on a survey before that levy that they would support the project if it would break even.

Students at Carleton College, which has worked with the school district to bring wind power to the Northfield area, have also rallied around the college’s plan to buy a turbine, said Richard Strong, the college’s director of facilities. But unlike the school district, the private college can simply draw $1.65 million from its coffers for the turbine it plans to erect before the fall windy season.

Building together would save the schools some $50,000, but for their wind turbine to be delivered in time, Northfield school board members would have to act within the next month or two.

If they don’t, Renew Northfield, a group formed in 2001 to advocate for clean, sustainable energy in the town, already has others interested in investing in a wind turbine, Ludewig said.

"It’s a visible commitment by the community to do what’s right," said Bruce Anderson, Renew Northfield’s president. "We thought it was important to have wind turbines in our own back yard. … It’s a tangible reminder of our community’s commitment to a clean future."

ONLINE

Go to http://www.sunflower.net/how_wind_works.htm to learn more about wind turbines and how they work.

School district wind projects in Minnesota and Iowa

• Spirit Lake, Iowa. Installed what’s believed to be the first school wind turbine: a $239,500 project in 1993. After the first turbine was paid off, the district added another $750,000 turbine, with about five times the energy. When the second is paid off in 2007 the district expects about $120,000 in annual savings.

• Lac Qui Parle Valley. Became the first Minnesota district to erect a turbine in 1997 with a $60,000 state grant and a $200,000 state interest-free loan. The small turbine mostly powers school buildings and brings in about $8,000 in federal incentives.

• Forest City, Iowa. Financed and built a $673,000 turbine in 1999 entirely without state or federal incentives. The turbine provides 60 percent of the district’s electricity and saves the district some $60,000 annually plus $20,000 in annual federal incentives. The turbine is expected to pay for itself in nine to 13 years.

Tammy J. Oseid covers Dakota County education. She can be reached at [email protected] or 651-228-2171.

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