Ohio Northern University held a wind turbine celebration on Friday, May 21.
The project, which began with student advocacy, is one of the largest on-site wind electricity projects in the country and the largest on-site school project in the state of Ohio.
Dr. Kendall L. Baker, Ohio Northern president, Robert Smith, president of the ONU Board of Trustees, and Dave Retterer, mayor of Ada, spoke at the event, citing the cooperation of the University and the village in making the project possible.
Matt Pierce, a senior civil engineering major from Grove City, Ohio, who initiated the development of the turbines as part of a senior capstone project focusing on wind speed, and Ted Rose, vice president of business development and public affairs for NexGen Energy Partners LLC, also spoke about the process of bringing wind turbines to the campus.
Each three-blade wind turbine is 220 feet tall and generates 400 kilowatts of power. The University will use the collective 1.2 megawatts of power generated by the three wind turbines on the ONU campus. The three turbines are expected meet five to 10 percent of the University’s electricity needs.
