Wind turbine collaboration is first of its kind in U.S.
By Jason Ballenger
Union City, Ind., is the first city in the nation to collaborate with a school district to generate energy from wind turbines.
Two wind turbines have been built to create revenue that will help offset electrical costs for Randolph Eastern School District and the city’s wastewater plant. The energy created from the turbines will go to the power grid of American Electric Power (AEP), and the city and school district will sell the energy to AEP.
Union City was looking for ways to create revenue in light of the property tax caps – something that hit them very hard.
“We got slammed,” said Union City Mayor Bryan Conklin. “We were one of the communities that got hit the worst, if not the worst, in the state. We lost 35 percent of our operating budget. They didn’t take into consideration cities like us.”
Union City collaborated with Performance Services Inc. to build the wind turbines, and the company obtained tax-free bonds through government funding. Union City and the school district have worked out a plan where they will rent the turbines for the next five years, with the option to buy.
The project so far has generated a lot of buzz, and the man to thank for the idea is John Zakelj, a Union City Community High School science teacher. He put the wheels in motion for the turbines with a school project, and the city and the community took close notice.
“Randolph Eastern School District teacher John Zakelj found this grant for an alternative energy project,” Conklin said, “and the project was based on how the students could power the school with alternative energy. We thought, ‘This makes sense.’”
The students that worked on the project did environmental and economic research, which helped pave the way for the city.
Even though Union City had the good fortune of an innovative environmental project, Conklin says other communities can do similar things.
“If your community has a natural resource, you have to tap into that natural resource to create revenue,” Conklin said. “It makes great sense to help the environment and create revenue for your community. Wind is a natural resource for us, so we capitalized on it. It’s neat what a community can do, no matter how big or small it is.”
The first of the 330-foot turbines rolled into the city on Jan. 8, and the second was delivered on Jan. 19. Mayor Conklin said the turbines were being tested and were expected to be fully functioning after the tests were done.
One of the massive structures sits on the southwest side of town, and the other sits east of the wastewater facility. The city had owned both plots of land, but sold one to the school for $1. It was just another example of how the school and city were working together to bring this plan to fruition.
Each one-megawatt wind turbine is expected to generate power that would equal powering 250 homes for one year. The two-bladed turbines were selected for this project, rather than the more popular three-bladed turbines, because of the lower manufacturing costs and minimal difference in efficiency.
The wind turbine project isn’t the only environmentally lucrative entity in Union City. They also sell water to Cardinal Ethanol, and it is home to the alternative fuels integrator Productive Concepts Inc., which makes hybrid conversions to vehicles.