Kirkwood wind turbine producing electricity ahead of schedule

CEDAR RAPIDS -- A $5.2 million, 2.5-megawatt wind turbine at Kirkwood Community College has begun generating electricity a couple of weeks ahead of schedule.

The Clipper Windpower turbine was commissioned this week and is expected to generate one-third of the college's electricity annually for a projected savings of $300,000.

The 417-foot-tall wind turbine, located along the college's South Drive, also will serve as a hands-on learning laboratory for students in Kirkwood's energy production and distribution technologies program.

Excess electricity generated by the wind turbine will be sold to Alliant Energy, which will continue to provide the majority of electricity consumed by the college.

Jeff Mitchell, dean of industrial technologies at Kirkwood, said if a technician from Clipper needs to fix any part of the turbine, students will work alongside

that individual, who will have an office in the college's solar and wind energy training center.

"Our students will be exposed to the Clipper technician on a daily basis," Mitchell said. "Under our agreement, if that turbine were to go down in the middle of the night, the Clipper technician will call our faculty member, David Bennett. He will call our students and they will have 60 minutes from the time they get the call to arrive at the base of the turbine.

"David Bennett will remain at the base of the tower and our students will climb the ladder with the Clipper technician to the top of the tower to determine what needs to be repaired in the turbine."

Each of the wind turbine's 3 blades weighs 15 tons, and the nacelle atop the tower, which includes the generators and related electronics, weighs 155 tons. The blades, which are turned with electric motors to change their pitch to start or stop the turbine, have a 96-meter circumference.