May 23, 2007
Illinois
Illinois
SERENA – The idea of a wind turbine generating electricity for the Community Unit School District 2 went up in smoke, at least for the time being.
Data collected as part of a feasibility study conducted by the engineering company Amereco indicated the size of the turbine that would best suit the district would be erected too low to take advantage of the wind speeds at the Serena campus, the school board learned last week.
Using a different hub would not be cost-effective for the district. The cost would be about $1.5 million and it would take 26 years for the district to break even. The life span of a hub is 20 to 25 years.
Under these circumstances, the district also would not qualify for any grants to pay for the wind turbine.
“It is disappointing,” said Superintendent Dan Joyce. “I had really looked forward to seeing this project happen, to marshal it from start to finish. But the economics don’t make sense.”
The district will keep the data collected through the study and, if electricity consumption increases or the cost of erecting a wind turbine drops, the concept may be resurrected.
By Melissa Garzanelli
22 May 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/05/23/wind-turbine-project-proves-to-be-too-costly/