Wind turbine project takes flight

Logan County Electric Cooperative hosted the May 25 open house and President/Manager Doug Miller served as master of ceremonies.

With a weather front making its gusty way into northern Ohio, the propeller of the new Indian Lake wind turbine was spinning away at a respectable clip Thursday when Logan County Electric Cooperative and Buckeye Power hosted an open house for the research project at its Indian Lake High School location. 
 
LCEC President/Manager Doug Miller welcomed the more than 40 staff and guests on hand for the occasion, including several students and educators who helped build the 100-foot tower supporting the 10-KW turbine and now will use the facility as an educational tool as Buckeye collects data on wind energy. 
 
The educational component of the $70,000-plus project is its most important benefit, said Buckeye Power and OREC President and CEO Tony Ahern. “This wind turbine is a great tool for students and teachers to explore scientific and mathematical principles,” he said. “If you dig below the surface, you’ll see that wind turbines touch on a number of social and economic issues. The intermittency of wind (and other renewables) presents special challenges that need to be explored.” 
 
Ahern noted wind has long been a source of useful energy and people today continue to be fascinated by its potential. “Wind energy has been harnessed for thousands of years to perform useful work,” he said. “Wind has powered boats, water pumping, and grinding mills since the time of the ancient Egyptians. In the early 1900s, across rural America, windmills dotted the landscape primarily for pumping water in some cases for producing electricity. 
 
“In the 1900s, technology advances in power plants and transmission lines resulted in low-cost electricity becoming more widely available. This didn’t happen over night. Rural America was the last to get electricity. And it happened when rural Americans, exercising that great American trait of self-reliance, formed their own electric Cooperatives and did it themselves. Today’s modern society is empowered by electricity, and electric technologies hold great promise for the future. 
 
“The windmills of the early 1900s could not compete with the economics and versatility of the modern electrical system and they all but disappeared,” Ahern noted. “But through innovative developments of the past few decades, wind power has made impressive advances. In some places, wind power has proven its technical and economic feasibility in the marketplace. More innovations and developments promise to expand the reach of wind power. 
 
“The most advanced wind turbines are 300 feet tall and generate 1,500 kilowatts. This 100-foot tall wind turbine only can generate 10 kilowatts. But it also can be used to explore and understand all the principles of wind energy of a large wind turbine. 
 
“Many people seem to notice wind turbines and seem to be intrigued by them,” Ahern said. “I don’t know if it’s the motion or something else but people don’t seem to have the same fascination with transmission towers and power lines. People seem to want to know more about wind turbines. 
 
“That’s why this project can make a valuable contribution to the community at large in that regard. I encourage you to explore its characteristics and share what you learn with the greater community. And to aid in this wind turbine being a more useful learning tool, we are placing on our website, buckeyepower.com, the monitoring data so that you can track the electric output. 
 
“The energy needs of our country and the world are growing. The transformation of energy from one form into a more useful form requires technology,” Ahern said. “Environmental concerns shape the characteristics of the technology we choose to use. Renewables like wind hold great promise but require more understanding. 
 
“This is why the Ohio Cooperatives are participating in this project. This wind turbine project also meshes very well with two cooperative principles – education and the concern for the community. So students and teachers, take this wind turbine and learn from it. I’m sure that you will come up with many issues to explore.” 
 
Rich Glink, a phsyics and chemistry teacher at Indian Lake High School, said the local interest in the project has been overwhelming. “I might need to ask for an extra planning period each day just to answer all of the phone calls from people asking about it,” he said. “People are excited and you have gotten a lot of people’s attention.” 
 
He introduced several of the students who worked on the project and noted several more groups will be using the data in classes next school year. 
“Thank you for this amazing opportunity,” Glink said. “This already has been an amazing journey for us and it will be more amazing as it goes on. 
 
“Without exception, everyone I have dealt with from the Co-ops has been courteous, helpful and professional. As a former DP&L customer who now is a member of the Co-op, I’m glad I made the change.” 
 
Miller emphasized that difference between Cooperatives and other utilities. “The cooperative business model is unique, and it’s what makes us who and what we are,” he said. “This project is our way of walking what we talk. Education and innovation are two of the foundations of our business, and projects like this are how we put them into action.” 
 
Sherry Hubbard, manager of the Ohio Department of Development’s Office of Energy Outreach, noted Ohio’s electric Co-ops also recently launched its new Envirowatts program and praised them for their efforts to promote clean and renewable energy. 
 
“There have been a number of power pioneers in our state’s history ... and with this project and your Envirowatts program, you have joined them,” Hubbard said. “It’s exciting for us, and I’m sure it’s exciting for this school and the community. Our office applauds you all for taking these initiatives.”

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