Part III: Erie Community Schools is "Casting" Our Future to the Wind!
by Mike Ryan, Superintendent
May 02, 2006
In my last article I used the analogy of our wind
generation project being propelled into the "medal round"
with the Illinois Clean Energy Foundation grant awards.
Staying with that analogy - The Illinois Clean Energy
Foundation awarded us a GOLD medal!! On April 24, 2006, I was
notified that the ICEF was awarding Erie Community Unit School
District #1 $720,000 for our wind turbine project.
This award is one of the largest (if not the largest) award
provided to an Illinois school district. Mr. Ed Miller,
Director of the Illinois Clean Energy Foundation, told me that
"the ICEF thinks the "Erie Project" was special and
that they (ICEF) wanted to be seen as supporters and partners in
this most aggressive and forward thinking project."
With the grant now being secured the Board of Education needed to formally approve the project. On Thursday, April 27, 2006, the Board of Education, in a vote of 6-1, voted to approve the wind converter project. Additionally, the Board members also approved a peripheral project of fully air conditioning Erie Elementary, Erie Middle School, and our Erie Annex Building by the fall of 2006.
The following is a breakdown of the scope w/cost of the upcoming projects that will be initiated within the coming months:
* 1.2 MW Vensys Wind Energy Converter Turbine, sold by Sea Wind Corporation, and all upgrades associated with the turbine installation. Cost - $3,450,000. Less $720,000 ICEF Grant Final Cost - $2,730,000.
* Installation of Lennox Heat Pumps and Air Conditioning roof units at three (3) building locations. Cost - $1,625,000.
* The projected annual energy savings, over the 30 year life of the turbine, is approximately $9,000,000 and then the projected savings, after cost, is nearly $4.000,000.
The timetable for our project is very aggressive. At the conclusion of our academic year (May 31st) the heat pump/air conditioning work will be initiated. The goal of Johnson Controls, Inc. (our project managers and project partners) is to have the buildings air conditioned by the return of students on August 21, 2006.
The wind converter turbine is to be built in the Czech Republic and will be shipped to a port in New York. From New York the turbine will be placed on several semi-trailers for the trip to Illinois and Erie Schools. Our initial time table shows that by September 2006 the tower will be erected. The goal is to have the turbine operational on December 15, 2006.
Throughout the project I intend to chronicle the progress of our projects on this web site. Additionally, a "live feed" camera will be provided by Johnson Controls, Inc. to provide a means for people, all over the world, to watch our project progress through the means of the internet. I still believe that our project is a "one of a kind" in that no other school district in Illinois and the United States has provided electrical power to an entire school district (with multiple buildings) with one wind energy converter turbine. I, along with my Board of Education, believe that our project will continue to benefit the students, staff, families and the Erie community for many years.
I will continue to update our projects progress every month through the means of the Erie Schools web site. I hope you will follow this most exciting project and share your thoughts through the "feedback" feature on this site.
