Afton
Nelson County, Virginia
Students at North Branch School got the chance in mid-November to learn all about wind energy. And they may get the chance to have their very own wind turbine to generate electricity in the near future. “We’re talking to the kids about the process we’re going to take in a couple of weeks where we are going to put a meteorological tower up here on the campus to measure the wind speeds. If the wind speeds are good and the school thinks it’s worth the money, to put up a wind turbine we will help them do that,” said Remy Luerssen, the Director of Education and Outreach for the VA Center for Wind Energy at James Madison University.

“Eventually if we have enough wind we’d like to work towards getting a wind turbine,” says Bonnie Holliday with North Branch School.

“In a couple of weeks where we are going to put a meteorological tower up here on the campus to measure the wind speeds,” Remy adds.

“When a wind turbine goes up it will generate electricity for the school. It will help them with their electric bill a little bit, but more than that it’s going to be educational for the students to have cool technology like this on their campus to learn about alternative energy,” Remy continues.

The temporary meteorological tower will stay up for 6-12 months then a decision about and actual wind turbine will be made.