August 26, 2013
Iowa

Akron-Westfield district selling school’s wind turbine

By Kayah Gausman, Multimedia Journalist | KTIV | August 25, 2013 | www.ktiv.com

A decision to ‘go green’ years ago has left a Siouxland school district with a lot of property to sell.

The Akron-Westfield school district has made the decision to sell the district’s wind turbine.

The turbine was put up in February of 1999. Akron-Westfield was one of the first schools to install a wind turbine. After installation, the turbine’s power was sold to the city and other electric companies.

School officials say it broke down two years ago. After some initial repairs, the turbine completely halted operation about 18 months ago.

“When you look at big picture, it’s cost us more than it’s earned us,” Randy Collins, Akron-Westfield Superintendent said.

The district has looked for options to sell, and recently set up a pre-proposal with a possible buyer.

However, the sale is in preliminary stages and the buyer has not agreed to anything yet.

“We’ve been unsuccessful in finding anyone to lease it. We’re not willing to invest the amount of money it would take to fix it again. The district fixed it once already and it only ran for about six months,” Collins said.

Preliminary meetings with the potential buyer will take place this week.

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URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/08/26/akron-westfield-district-selling-schools-wind-turbin/