The Verndale School District is one step closer to being in the wind energy business.
Superintendent Jim Madsen updated the Verndale school board Monday night that Verndale is one of 41 school districts in Minnesota which have filled out a grant application and sent it in to the federal government to take part in a wind energy program.
Representatives from energy systems company Johnson Controls, Inc. informed the Verndale board earlier this year about a government program to allow schools to own - and hopefully profit from - a wind energy turbine.
Last year, 14 school districts took part in the program, which uses federal funds and local school district ownership to construct a turbine, which can be used to sell the electricity generated to power companies. The cash flow from the project is used to pay off zero-interest bonds issued by the federal government. Any additional cash would go to the districts that own the turbines.
Madsen said interest in the program has grown, but he said Verndale is on the right track.
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"Our grant has been submitted to the federal agency," Madsen said. "I've gotten a letter back from them that they've received it."
Grant reviewers in Washington, D.C. will review the applications over the next couple of months, and Madsen said he expects to hear which schools are approved by December 2007.
In 2006, the 14 schools all entered into a joint powers agreement to operate the wind turbines. With so many applicants this year, that might not work exactly the same, Madsen said.
"The first 14 schools that went into it had a joint powers agreement between them," Madsen said. "I said I thought this was kind of a large group. We're looking at splitting it up into two or three groups regionally, since there are so many schools."
