Wind turbines studied for high school

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Monday, Feb. 28, 2005 | 10:55 a.m.

They look like giant egg beaters, stirring up clouds in the sky above Sierra Vista High School. But they're actually four wind turbines, devices capable of turning a natural resource into big savings for the Clark County School District.

There's a lot to be done before the artist's rendition of the wind turbines becomes reality, but district officials said they're optimistic that it will happen.

Paul Gerner, associate superintendent of facilities for the district, said he is in the early stages of talks with McKenzie Bay International Ltd., a private company that develops and supplies wind turbines. The geography of Sierra Vista, located in the southwest valley, has been identified as a potential match for the turbines.

McKenzie Bay, a Michigan company, develops and operates commercial wind storage and distribution systems. The company has a Canadian subsidiary that develops and produces the vertical wind turbines.

Paul Gerner, the school district's associate superintendent of facilities, said there's "a lot of red tape" to be negotiated before the turbines could be put in place, including getting approval from Nevada Power and the state Public Utilities Commission. One scenario would be for McKenzie Bay to operate the turbines and sell the district energy at a discounted rate, Gerner said. The four turbines could theoretically produce enough energy to meet half of the school's annual needs, Gerner said.

"I don't want the district to be at any financial risk," Gerner said. "When I see a proposal that will pass muster at the state level, I'll take it to the (Clark County) School Board."

Peggy Maze Johnson, executive director of Nevada environmental watchdog group Citizen Alert, said the United States is lagging far behind the rest of the industrialized world when it comes to embracing renewable energy resources. Wind turbines at a high school may be a small step, but it would be a step in the right direction, Johnson said.

"We're grateful for anything that would push these types of solutions forward and bring them to the public's attention," Johnson said. "We have a diminishing field of resources available and it's long past time for people to start acknowledging that."

Another district conservation plan, to convert the sun's rays into electricity to power schools, is further along than the wind turbine proposal. Four elementary schools slated for roof replacements this spring, could also get solar panels capable of producing 12.5 kilowatts of energy. The panels will be installed provided the district's application with the state's solar energy program is approved, Gerner said.

The four schools would be capable of producing as much as 50,000 watts annually, translating into a savings of $250,000 in power bills for the district, Gerner said.

The district's energy conservation program has yielded savings of more than $3 million for the first quarter of the 2004-05 fiscal year, said Dale Scott, energy manager for the district. The program was expanded this year to include one energy inspector assigned to each of the district's five regions.