Windmill will power college

Wimmera Mail Times
Monday 17/12/2007 Page: 5

MURTOA College will generate its own power with a windmill next year. Principal Ian Martin said the 37-metre turbine would generate enough power to meet the school's needs. Mr Martin said the tower and the blades for the windmill arrived at the school on Thursday.

"The next step is to build the concrete slab to specification. Then the tower goes up and is bolted onto the slab. We will have to get a crane in to do that just like we did to get it off the truck yesterday," Mr Martin said on Friday. "Then we dig all the holes to put the copper wiring in and then hook it up." Mr Martin said a representative from Rotterdam-based company Wind Energy Solutions would travel to Murtoa to oversee the building of the windmill and explain how it should be serviced.

He said the school expected the windmill to be operational in March or April next year. "We first talked about the project four years ago, when we asked the state Education Minister for money for capital works projects," Mr Martin said. "We asked for money for this project, not really expecting anything, and sure enough we got the money." Mr Martin said the school tried to purchase a windmill in Australia, but the only suitable company went bankrupt, forcing it to look overseas.

The turbine has a blade span of eight metres. "We decided to put the turbine on the southern boundary of the school property, because we have done tests and found that is where it is most windy," he said. Mr Martin said the environmentally- friendly project was part of a $3.5-million redevelopment of the school. which included new science and home economics wings and the wind turbine.

"The kids think it is fantastic. We are developing facilities that are second-to-none in the Wimmera. We started the process of building the classroom in 2004, when we got a capital works grant. We called for tenders in 2005 and were not successful in attracting one, but one builder took on the job and began work in April this year," he said. Mr Martin said straw bales were used to build new classrooms as they were a renewable resource good for heating, cooling and acoustics.