A day of windy learning for Valley students
June 10, 2009
By Laura Geggel
UPDATED — 12:42 P.M. Sept. 23, 2009
It may have been only slightly breezy on the ground, but at 221 feet, a steady wind stream blew the giant turbines at the Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility in Ellensburg. Wearing hard hats, the Twin Fall Middle School Green Team squinted up at the turbines during a tour of the facility June 5.
“When you looked up, it went so far up,” seventh-grader Rian Ruyle said of the turbines.
“We learned that the wingspan of the turbine is as big as a 737,” seventh-grade student Samantha Sparling said.
Martin Volken, owner of Pro Ski and Guiding Service in North Bend, made the daylong fieldtrip possible. He donated $800 to fund a school bus and two substitute teachers while he, 36 students and Green Team advisors Dawn Frearson and John Spiess traveled to the wind farm.
Twin Falls seventh-grader Rian Ruyle pauses in front of the wind turbines in Ellensburg.
The field trip was so popular, the Green Team grew by about 10 members. The advisors required that new members turn in several paragraphs detailing how they planned to help the Green Team next year. Sparling, one of the new recruits, said she thought the Green Team should make its posters on recycled paper. Personally, she said she would do her best to turn off lights and the TV when she was not using them.
Upon arriving at the alternative energy facility, students got a good look at the 127 turbines, built by Puget Sound Energy in 2006. Each turbine provides 1.8 megawatts of energy a day, enough to power 460 households. Combined, the wind farm supplies electricity to 60,000 houses.
When the wind farm’s 22-turbine expansion is complete in 2010, the facility will be able to power 70,000 homes.
PSE Energy Analyst Adam Crawford said it was important that students learn “how wind works and how it is harnessed,” while at the same time realizing that “wind isn’t the answer to our energy needs, but is a piece of the puzzle.”
Ruyle said she enjoyed learning about the wind turbines, even if they had their limitations.
“It’s better for the environment, but it’s also more spendy,” Ruyle said.
Crawford invited people interested in alternative energy to visit the facility, which is open for tours from April to November, depending on the weather. Call 509-964-7815 to schedule a free tour.
Students learned how the facility transformed wind into power. The wind pushes on the blades at 16.5 rotations per minute around a rotor. A gearbox inside the turbine steps it up to 1,800 rpm and feeds the power into a generator. Using copper coils and magnets, the movement in the generator creates an electrical current that the facility harnesses to power homes.
The facility’s turbines measure 351 feet to the very top of the highest blade. In Germany, wind farms are using experimental turbines that measure more than 500 feet. Wind currents are steadier and stronger at higher altitude, which makes taller turbines more efficient.
The facility also has 2,406 individual solar panels, the largest solar array in the Northwest. Crawford admitted they don’t work as well in cloudy weather, but pointed out the panels feed about 0.5 megawatts into the grid and Renewable Energy Center.
After the tour, students completed a scavenger hunt in the Renewable Energy Center, before heading back to Twin Falls.
Spiess said the trip was timely for the Green Team.
“We spent a lot of the year talking about recycling and ways to cut down on our energy use,” Spiess said. “This is the perfect fit because here is a renewable energy source that is right in our backyard.”
Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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