A Small Town's Big Idea

ASEE Prism, Summer 2008 by Grose, Thomas K

WIND POWER

ONE HUNDRED-SIXTY miles east of Denver, Colo., a wind-swept prairie town named Wray and its school district have been hardpressed for cash. As the town's population has aged, student numbers have dropped to just 620, one hundred fewer than 10 years ago. That hurts when state funding is based on student headcounts.So to save on electric bills, agriculture teacher Jay Clapper suggested building a makeshift windmill and hooking it to nearby power lines.

The idea blossomed into a plan to build a 250-foot-tall windmill with a 900 kilowatt turbine - at a cost of $1.8 million.The district ponied up a million, a local trust chipped in $200,000 and a state clean-energy grant provided another $350,000. That left the project $270,000 short. Then power company NativeEnergy agreed to spend that amount on renewable energy credits, paying up front for the electricity it'll purchase over the windmill's 20-year lifespan. The turbine should crank out enough energy not only to cover the district's electric bill - around $80,000 a year - but also to power 20 percent of the town. There may even be enough surplus to finance other educational needs. For Wray, the answer to its money woes was a-blowin' in the wind.-TG