MWCC's Wind Turbines Arrive!

The massive components that will make up MWCC's two 1.65 MW wind turbines arrived over a 10-day span from Sept. 21 through Sept. 30, generating currents of excitement as elongated trucks maneuvered onto the Gardner campus to deliver the college's newest renewable energy solution.

"With the turbines, biomass and solar energy, we'll be the most energy-independent college or university in New England. That's money we can put back into the classrooms," President Daniel M. Asquino remarked.

MWCC Resident Engineer Ed Terceiro, executive vice president emeritus, is overseeing the project for the Mount. Construction will continue over the next two months. When completed, the two Vestas V82 wind turbines are expected to produce 4,978 KWh hours of electricity annually. As a result, the turbines will annually generate approximately 97% percent of the college's electricity consumption and will return approximately 30% of the power generated back into the grid.

Witnessing the long-planned project come to fruition is creating an electrical energy on campus, noted Janice Barney, Dean of the School of Business, Science and Technology, "Everyone's excited to see this new venture."

Computer Graphic Design instructor Sonya Shelton viewed the delivery with students, faculty and staff from the building's third floor. "I have to think that this is how people responsed to the first automobiles. For a society that can sometimes seem unfazed by anything new, this is an exception. We've seen it all, except apparently this."

The wind energy projects at MWCC and at the North Central Correctional Institution, also in Gardner, are a joint collaboration of the Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management and the Department of Energy Resources to achieve the renewable energy goals of Gov. Deval Patrick's Leading by Example program, which calls for increasing the use of renewable power and energy efficiency at state facilities.

MWCC's $9 million wind project is being funded through a variety of sources, including $3.2 million in U.S. Department of Energy grants secured by Congressman John Olver; $2.1 million from a low interest Clean Renewable Energy Bond (CREB) made available through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act; and $3.7 million from Massachusetts Clean Energy Investment Bonds.