High School Wind Turbine Up And Running

The wind turbine that was placed at the Kimball High School is now up and running.

According to teacher Alan Held, since the turbine was officially turned on February 6 at 7:00 a.m., it has produced a modest amount of electricity for the school, more specifically Held’s shop which is located right beside the turbine.

“It’s produced 122.1 kilowatt hours. This building alone uses about 8,000 kilowatt hours a month. It’s not going to power the entire building, but all the electricity will be used in this building,” Held said.

Though the electricity that the turbine produces for the school is a benefit, the primary purpose of the wind turbine is one that focuses on a greater educational benefit. The wind turbine is not only used as a teaching tool but also as a way to introduce students to potential careers in alternative forms of producing energy.

“WNCC as well as a lot of other junior colleges have actually started wind energy schooling programs so you can actually go to a two year college and major in the wind turbine maintenance, setup, etc. Hopefully, it will entice some of those students to go on and receive a two year degree and become employed within the wind energy industry,” Held said.

The turbine is also used to teach students about alternative forms of producing energy in order to decrease the carbon footprint left behind by the traditional ways of producing energy such as coal.

“The electricity produced so far just within this week has actually saved the carbon footprint on our earth124.7 pounds of carbon dioxide that would have been generated through coal fire power plants,” Held said.

The software that is associated with the wind turbine tracks the energy produced by the wind turbine throughout each day and graphs it to make it easier to show students what exactly the wind turbine does.

Though the turbine has only been fully functional for one week, it has produced on average 3.6 kilowatt hours per day. According to Held, with substantial wind like has blown through Kimball the past week, the turbine would produce more than enough electricity to power one household.

“I’m actually quite surprised by how much it is producing,” Held said.