The West Central School Board discussed the wind turbine project at its recent meeting. The Board is looking to place a single turbine on the school property in order to save money on energy bills. Superintendent Charles Mellon said there are three issues that have stopped progress on project.
“The major one being that the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission has still not set the rates as far as approving the proposal that NIPSCO has placed in front of them as far as renewable energy,” said Superintendent Mellon. “Our other issue deals with property and liability insurance. Actually, this is something new for the insurance companies in this area as far as a turbine being placed on school property. There is some discussion there as far as just adding it onto our current policy and at what charge would that be as far as our premium increase.”
“The other thing is the interconnection of the actual energy that is being produced. We want that connection to be prior to the meter so that down the road it doesn’t have to be sold out to the grid and brought back in. We can actually use the energy that is being produced.”
Mr. Mellon said the Board still plans to move forward.
“Unless the insurance is so high that it’s not as feasible for us to do it and that’s the main thing. We’re trying to save taxpayers money as far as eliminating our electricity bill.”
