AKRON – In its first year, the wind turbine built on the high school and middle school campus has saved Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. $120,536 in utility costs, according to Tony Kuykendall, business development manager for Performance Services. Kuykendall presented the first-year report to the school board Monday night at Tippecanoe Valley Middle School. The school corporation began looking at installing a wind turbine on the Valley campus in about 2010. 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 $2.63 million. The wind turbine is 322 feet tall from base to tip. It utilizes a three-blade system, but is not be quite as tall as wind farm turbines. Under Valley’s old rate structure before the wind turbine, Kuykendall said Valley paid for consumption and demand. With the wind turbine in place, under Valley’s current rate structure, Valley’s total costs were just over $154,000 in 2012, a savings of $120,536. “That’s not too bad. That’s not too bad at all,” Kuykendall said. In 2013, he said Performance Services will focus on improving Valley’s service plan with a local service provider in Ohio. That will help with response time should anything go wrong. Rich Absi, PSI project manager, will help coordinate service efforts. Kuykendall said PSI also wants to continue to look at additional utility savings with Valley. “There are definitely ways to better utilize the energy in your buildings,” he said. “We want to continue discussion on how that can look.” Kuykendall said PSI was working on a more simplified approach to Valley’s wind turbine website. “We hope to take care of that this year,” he said. The wind turbine’s output is viewable online by going to Valley’s website at www.tvsc.k12.in.us and clicking on the wind turbine information center link on the right-hand side. Mark Wise, board member, said Valley was promised the wind turbine would generate more than 2.3 million kWh annually, but it only produced 1.4 million kWh in its first year, partially because the wind turbine had a lot of down time. Wise wanted to know if that would improve in 2013. “Yes. That’s the simple answer. If it can’t run, we can’t produce energy,” Kuykendall responded. Besides the turbine being down a bit during the year, Kuykendall said the wind wasn’t as strong this past year as predicted. Asked by a patron what the life expectancy of the wind turbine was, Kuykendall said 25 years, but “nothing to say it won’t continue on past that.” After 25 years, the major components may need some working and there may be updates, but the tower can last 40 years. In other business, the board: • Heard a report on AdvancED School Accreditation from Superintendent Brett Boggs. Five educators from Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana conducted an external review of the corporation and Valley’s five schools Feb. 3-6. Valley will get its accreditation status by June. • Accepted a donation of $250 to the Tippecanoe Valley High School Journalism Department by Don Hurd, CEO and president of Hoosier Media Group LLC. Hurd has pledged to donate $1,000 per year toward the publication of the school newspaper, the “Runic Review.” A $250 donation will be made each quarter. Hurd had read about the return of the school newspaper through the local newspaper and wanted to support it. “I know they’re very excited about it. They’ll use it for a variety of purposes,” Boggs said. • Announced upcoming board meetings will be: March 11, TVHS; April 15, Akron Elementary School; and May 13, Mentone Elementary School. All meetings are at 6:30 p.m. • Approved Jessica McFarland as the corporation treasurer. • Approved Mallory Brooks as TVHS head volleyball coach; Brandon Cody, TVHS head baseball coach; Brad Heintz, TVHS assistant baseball coach; and Chris Rassi, TVHS junior varsity baseball coach. • Approved the TVHS wrestling team traveling to Indianapolis for the state wrestling finals at Conseco Fieldhouse Friday and Saturday. • Approved for reading interventionists Inga Omondi, Hayley Whitaker, Karla Hayden, Jenny Shear and literacy coach Kristen Horrell to travel to Springfield, Ill., to attend the Illinois Reading Council Conference March 13-16. • Heard teacher Jane Hunn was recognized by The Hoosier Association of Science Teachers Inc. as the 2013 recipient of The Edward Frazier Distinguished Service Award. • Heard the Riley Children’s Foundation recently recognized the school corporation for achieving Riley Corporation status during the 2011-12 school year. Tippecanoe Valley was recognized for cumulatively raising at least $1 per student enrolled in the corporation from the participating schools. For a free video of Hunn’s and other Tippecanoe Valley Middle School recognitions, visit the Times-Union website at www.timesuniononline.com
