AKRON – When Tippecanoe Valley was first considering a wind turbine on the Tippecanoe Valley High School and Middle School campus, Performance Services Inc. estimated the turbine would generate 2.2 million kw hours of power per year. In its first two years, it didn’t meet that expectation. Tony Kuykendall, representing PSI, said in 2011 the wind turbined provided 1.5 million kw hours. He said PSI is trying to figure out why there is the shortfall. “As we track this, we see a lot of variation,” Kuykendall stated. The wind turbine first was proposed to the Tippecanoe Valley School Board by Performance Services Inc. in 2009 as a way for the school corporation to save money. The groundbreaking was in June 2011. Valley applied for and received $2.3 million in Clean Renewable Energy Bonds from the federal government for the project. The federal government also paid 70 percent of the interest on the project. The total cost of the project was less than $2.63 million. One of the challenges they’ve had is that for a couple of months the wind speed exceeded the monthly average, but the turbine is not going to produce energy above windspeeds of 25 mph, he said. Down time can really affect wind projects like Valley’s, he said. In 2013, the turbine worked 91 percent of the time. “Our goal is to have 95 percent,” he said. A lightning strike in July fried the turbine’s circuit board so it was out for about two weeks. Since then, Kuykendall said they’ve beefed the turbine up. He also indicated the engineers may have overestimated the turbine’s energy production. The company that manufactured the wind turbine also went out of business and was bought up by another company. Board Vice President Mark Wise said Valley hired PSI, trusting it to look into the company, but it went “belly up.” Kuykendall said they can still get the parts they need if they need them. And the wind turbine is still saving Valley about $125,000 a year in energy costs. Bryan Murphy, board president, said the wind turbine wasn’t meeting the 95 percent guarantee, which should mean restitution for Valley. Kuykendall said that was the manufacturer’s guarantee. Before going out of business, the company was big for a decade and sold more than 70 turbines worldwide. They also had the best products and technology. “If the manufacturer had not gone out of business, we could have gone to them for restitution,” Kuykendall said. PSI did honor the parts and labor warranties on the turbine. Now, however, all the warranties have expired. Superintendent Brett Boggs said the turbine was not producing at the level they thought they would get, but there’s no guarantee with a project like this. It’s still helping Valley out a lot, he said. In other business, the board: • Heard a request from parent Lisa Paxton for TVHS to bring back the Advanced College Placement English course. Principal Kirk Doehrmann said the high school will have an Advanced Placement English course. • Heard a request from TVHS student Josh Petgen for the high school to have a soccer team. Boggs suggested Petgen get with Doehrmann and Athletic Director Duane Burkhart to come up with a plan and present it to the school board later. • Approved the 2014-15 school year calendar. The first student day is Aug. 15. Thanksgiving break is Nov. 27-28, and Christmas vacation begins at the close of the school day Dec. 19 and classes resume Jan. 6. Spring vacation begins at the close of the school day April 3 and school resumes April 13. The end of the second semester is May 27, and TVHS graduation is set for June 7. Emergency make-up days are Feb. 2 and May 28 through June 5. • Approved the new TVHS agriculture class Sustainable Energy Alternatives. The two-semester course will be taught by Lisa Paxton. • Approved extracurricular assignments, including Scott Bibler as the TVHS head football coach. • Approved the retirements of Akron Elementary third-grade teacher Janet Morgan and second-grade teacher Sally Bales. • Announced upcoming board meetings will be April 21 at Akron Elementary; May 12 at Mentone Elementary; and June 9 at the administration office. All meetings start at 6:30 p.m.
