About the Wind Turbine Project

Grinnell College is currently considering the construction of a 3 to 4 megawatt wind turbine facility northwest of campus which will provide about 30% of the campus's energy. Browse through the links on the left or read on below or check out FTPpamphlet.pdf to find out more information about this project.

Big News!! The Board of Trustees will meet on October 5th, 2007 to discuss the DRAFT Grinnell College 20 percent commitment.doc. And check out Historic kwh consumption.pdf over the last twenty years.

Project History

  • In the summer of 2005, President Osgood charged a committee of faculty and staff members to investigate the feasibility of constructing wind turbines to provide energy for campus.
  • In February of 2005, the College commissioned Wind Utility Consulting, a private consulting firm, to further investigate the economics of utilizing wind energy for the college.
  • The findings of the Grinnell College Wind Feasibility Committee and Wind Utility Consulting were published in a 2006 Wind Energy Feasibility Committee Full Preliminary Report in April of 2005.
  • The Board of Trustees met in April 2006 to discuss this report, and decided to approve the construction of a 500 kW turbine at CERA and commissioned another study by Wind Utility Consulting to further investigate constructing wind turbines for campus.
  • The Trustees continued to discuss wind energy at their meeting on October 6th, 2006.
  • The Trustees will review the Emmisions Reduction Commitment at the upcomming meeting on October 5th, 2007.

Student Support

A petition demonstrating the support of Grinnell alumni, students, staff, and community members for wind energy was presented to President Osgood and the Board of Trustees on February 24th, 2006. In a little over two weeks, the petition collected signatures from:

  • 204 Alumni
  • 582 Students
  • 28 Faculty
  • 27 Staff
  • 23 Parents
  • 6 Community Members
  • 27 Others

In April of 2006, the SGA Joint Board unanimously passed a SGA Wind Resolution April 2006_final.doc demonstrating student support for wind energy.

Special thanks to Rachel Walberg for the logo!