City school district to harness the wind

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Canandaigua, N.Y. — .The city school district will soon generate some of its power from the wind via a campus turbine that will double as a hands-on educational tool for students.

The district learned this week it has received a $753,400 federal stimulus grant to erect a wind turbine near the high school on East Street. It’s one of three such grants awarded to area municipalities: East Bloomfield will get $126,085 for a system of free-standing solar panels adjacent to the highway garage, and Ontario County has received $103,425 for a lightbulb makeover in county buildings.

The three projects are expected to save tens of thousands of dollars in annual energy costs.

The district plans to build a 50-kilowatt, 480-volt turbine. The exact specifications, including what the tower will look like, have yet to be settled. However, in a grant application, the district proposed a 100-foot tower. It’s much smaller than turbines on energy farms in places like Cohocton and Warsaw. And for comparison’s sake, the turbine on private property on Brace Road in East Bloomfield sits on a 130-foot tower.

Schools Superintendent Don Raw was thrilled by the news.

“We’re getting something real out of this,” he said. “This is a real project with real results that impacts a generation of kids.”

The project tentatively specified a conventional wind turbine with a 23- to 26-foot blade span. Raw said the wind turbine will be built carefully with regard to its surroundings.

“We want to be good neighbors,” he said.

District spokesman Andy Thomas today said an exact spot had not been decided.

The wind turbine will save the district an estimated $32,120 annually in utility costs, according to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, which awarded the grants from the federal stimulus funds.

By the numbers
$753,400
Grant received by city schools to erect a wind turbine

$126,085
Grant received by East Bloomfield for solar panels to help power the highway department garage

$103,425
Grant received by Ontario County for a lighting system makeover



Canandaigua’s grant will also fund a Web site and demonstration kiosk in the Academy to monitor the turbine.

The high school campus sits on a natural ridge. Raw said it offers an ideal wind power site as indicated by a grant application study.

New technology, better lights
In East Bloomfield, the solar project is expected to save about $4,285 a year in utility costs. The grant will fund a 19.7-kilowatt system of free-standing panels near the town gravel mine by the highway garage. The town’s consultant on the grant application is Universal Brownfield Revitalization Corp. and Rochester Solar and Wind.

“The solar panels will be on the ground but they will not track the sun,” said town Councilman Dave Damaske, who spearheaded the grant effort.

The town will fund 5 percent, or $6,336, of the project cost, with NYSERDA picking up the remaining 95 percent.

East Bloomfield Town Supervisor Dodie Huber was also celebrating.

“In concert with our geothermal heating and cooling system at Veterans Park, we believe this solar plant, provided our due diligence proves out, will help defray costs on town buildings that are increasingly expensive to maintain,” she said.

As for the lighting makeover in Ontario County buildings, it’s expected to spare taxpayers about $33,351.

“The biggest bang for your buck really is in upgrading lighting systems,” said Ontario County Planner Chris Hughe

City school district to harness the wind - Canandaigua, NY - MPNnow