By MARK TODD - Staff Writer - mtodd@starbeacon.com
CONNEAUT — A massive wind turbine should be spinning in the sky above Conneaut Middle School very early in 2010, said Sonny Heinonen, Board of Education president.
The board, at a special meeting earlier this week, learned via a conference telephone call that the 600-kilowatt turbine should be cranking out electricity by late January or early February, Heinonen said.
The machine will be built and operated by NexGen Energy of Boulder, Colo. The district won’t pay a penny for the work but has agreed to buy electricity created by the turbine for 10 years. The turbine is expected to handle around 60 percent of the school’s annual electricity needs.
At the same time, NexGen will construct a similar turbine next to the city of Conneaut’s wastewater treatment plant to serve that facility.
Of all the school locations in town, the middle school site proved most desirable, officials said. NexGen wants the turbine, which will sit behind the school, in place as soon as possible to take advantage of the area’s strong winter winds, Heinonen said.
“(The project) will be done quickly,” he said.
The generator will sit atop a tower nearly 200 feet tall. The blades will whirl in a pattern more than 100 feet in diameter.
