By CHERI GAYFIELD, Managing Editor nceeditor@centurylink.net
Published: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 2:07 PM CST
NORTH NEWTON — The North Newton wind turbine was assembled last week, changing the landscape of the junior/senior high school for years to come. The 300 foot structure was assembled over a two day period as students, staff and teachers watched whenever they got a chance. Buses were running nearby to keep them all warm while the construction and assembly workers put together the tower, which came in three parts, the hub and finally the blades.
The wind turbine, a German product of the PowerWind company, will produce 900 megawatts of power, which will power the school building. Before it actually begins turning and generating electricity, Performance Services, which is in charge of the project, will have to make improvements to the grid before it will be OK’d by NIPSCO.
Originally, the North Newton School Corporation planned to sell all the power generated by the turbine to NIPSCO for 15 years, but with the recent rate increase by the electric power company, the rate of use by the school would be higher than the cost to sell the electricity to NIPSCO. The school’s electric rate was increased to 12.5 cents per kilowatt hour, while NIPSCO would pay only $.10 per kilowatt hour for the electricity from the turbine.