The Wind for Schools Project

Erection of Skystream Wind Turbine at Fairfield High School in Langdon, Kansas

Wind for Schools (WfS) is funded by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. Kansas is one of six pilot states. The other states are Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Nebraska and South Dakota. The Kansas Rural Center and Kansas State University are the project partners, and are working to install 2.4 kW Skystream wind turbines at 15 rural schools during 2008-2010.  The Wind for Schools program aims to train young engineers for jobs in the rapidly growing wind industry, and to increase public awareness and understanding of wind power. Applications are solicited through the K-12 school districts’ communications networks, through the Kansas Association of Teachers in Science, and by word of mouth. Schools were selected on the basis of being a good wind site and having strong community, school administration and science teacher support. 

Schools receiving WfS turbines are expected to incorporate education about wind energy into their science, math and social studies curricula, including how turbines work and how to collect, process and understand the data the turbines will provide.

A second goal is to establish a fully functioning Wind Applications Center (WAC) at Kansas State University under the coordination and direction of Professor Ruth Douglas Miller.  (See the October 2009 update from WAC.)

The WfS project selected the following sites in the first round of applicants in 2007:

• Sterling High School, USD 376, Sterling

• Walton Rural Life Charter Elementary School, USD 373, Walton

• Ell-Saline School Dist. USD 307, Brookville

• Concordia School District, USD 333, Concordia

• Fairfield High School, USD 310, Langdon

These schools were selected for the second round in 2008:

• Blue Valley-Randolph School, USD 384, Riley County

• Deerfield, USD 216, Kearney County

• South Barber, USD 255, Barber County

• Pretty Prairie, USD 311, Reno County

• The SE Kansas Educational Service Center-Greenbush, Crawford County

These schools were selected for the third round in 2009:

• Colby County Community College, Thomas County

• Hope Street Academy, Topeka, Shawnee County

• Solomon School District, USD 393, Saline County

• Appanoose Elementary, Pomona, Franklin County

• Smoky Valley School District, Lindsborg, USD 400, McPherson County

  Click the icon for a map of Kansas, which illustrates the wind resource at 50 meters above ground level, and the locations of the Wind For Schools sites (revised October 2009).

For more information, please contact Ruth Douglas Miller
or go to the Wind Applications Center website.

Regional Wind Energy Forums

This project seeks to establish ongoing dialogues with rural communities about opportunities arising from wind energy development. Working with local communities, the project has organized multi-county forums that address such issues as leasing and landowners’ rights, community wind development, state policies concerning wind development, non-grid usage of stranded wind resources, funding wind projects, county commissioner issues, transmission and interconnection, and rural economic development.

The project is funded by the Climate and Energy Project of The Land Institute in Salina, KS.

Partners have included numerous County Economic Development offices, several RC&Ds, Farm Bureau county committees, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the Kansas Energy Office. Wind forums have taken place in Kingman, Phillipsburg, Colby, and Scott City. Additional forums will be announced on our calendar page as they are organized.

Presentations from the forums are available below.

• Dan Nagengast: Community Wind in Kansas (5.8 meg pdf file)

• Tom Wind: Community Wind (1.5 meg pdf file)

Energy Facts and Figures for Rural Kansas

• Model private wind zoning regulation from Saline County Kansas

• Key questions about wind (172K pdf file)

• Landowner lease options (376K pdf file)

• Kansas Wind Resource Map (1.3 meg pdf file, May 2008 data)

• Economic Benefits, Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions Reductions, and Water Conservation Benefits from 1,000 Megawatts (MW) of New Wind Power in Kansas (535K pdf file)

• Kansas Electric Transmission Grid (302K pdf file)

• Financing Wind Projects (220K pdf file)

• Testimony of Dan Nagengast before the Joint Committee on Energy and Environmental Policy,
  December 5, 2008  (3.2 meg pdf file)

• Financial Viability; Funding Sources for Small Turbines (Half Moon Seminar) (2.3 meg pdf file)

Wind Energy Links

• National Renewable Energy Laboratory Wind Program
     Small Wind Webinars, including:
     - Wind for Schools Project and a Roadmap for Development of a Wind Workforce
     - Small Wind Certification Council
     - Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency

• Windustry
    - Community Wind Toolbox

• Skystream Wind Turbines

• Kansas Wind Applications Center

• Cloud County Community College Wind Energy Technology Program

• Wind Turbine Technician training is available at Pinnacle Career Institute in Lawrence

• Climate and Energy Project

• American Wind Energy Association

• Energy Foundation

• Kansas Energy Office

• Kansas Rural Center Energy Policy Guidelines

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