Reservation school looks to reap the wind

By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer | Monday, November 22, 2004

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KYLE -- Oglala Lakota College has collected its first month's worth of data in its year-long wind-energy study on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

According to Jim Taulman, an OLC conservation biology instructor, the college will collect data on wind speed and direction using its $10,000 anemometer tower for a year.

The information will help school officials evaluate the potential of generating its own electricity with a wind turbine at the Piya Wiconi center, seven miles southwest of Kyle.

"We'll get a good idea of what the potential is for wind energy," Taulman said.

Financed through the college, the tower is part of plan that would allow the college to generate its own renewable power within the next two to three years, he said.

"The whole reservation is just an ideal place for energy," he said.

With help from Jim Brignolo of the Foundation for the American Indian, an organization involved in promoting wind energy on reservations, the college has started recording wind speeds and directions. The averages will help officials determine whether a turbine is feasible.

"That's the next step after collecting wind data," Taulman said.

He said Brignolo contracted Second Wind to assemble and erect the 50-meter, or 165-foot-tall tower, on Sept. 10. The anemometers, or wind recording devices, were placed at elevations of 10-, 30- and 50-meters.

The base, a galvanized plate, was bolted together and driven into the ground. The weight of the tower keeps the base in place. The tower was then anchored with guy wires attached to a series of six ring collars that are snugly attached to the pole. Six-foot-long anchor screws were driven into the ground, and the guy wires were secured to the screws to keep the tower from toppling during high winds.

Unlike the Oglala Sioux Tribe's proposed $300 million wind farm with Invenergy of Chicago, the college will build its own wind turbine with money from private donations and grants, Taulman said.

The time frame for all of this is about a year for technicians to accumulate the weather data and then two years to gather resources to buy the wind turbine, he said.

"The funding institutions want to see the actual data. They don't want to put money into a project that doesn't produce energy," Taulman said.

He said that he would use the tower as an example of renewable resources for energy. This would also include getting the best wind turbine to fit the job.

"There are all sorts of turbines - those that provide power for hundreds of homes and smaller versions that would power the campus," Taulman said.

He said an average home uses 30 kilowatt-hours in a day or 1,000 kilowatt-hours each month.

Depending upon the wind, a moderate turbine would generate about 200 to 300 kilowatts an hour - ample energy to power the campus, he said.

Once generated, the college can use the power or sell what they don't need to area power companies. Taulman said the college would probably negotiate with LaCreek Electric Association, the local electric company in Kyle.

"We're working out the details with the utility grid," he said. "It's like a small power plant. The excess power we produce, we hope to sell to them."

Representatives of LaCreek Electric Association were unavailable for comment.

KILI Radio station uses 50,000 watts of power to broadcast its daily dose of Lakota-language talk shows, tribal music, sports coverage and rock 'n' roll.

The station has joined a consortium that plans to buy and install a wind turbine.

Tom Casey, KILI radio station manager, along with Honor the Earth, the Intertribal Council on Utility Policy or COUP, NativeEnergy and Midwest Renewable Energy Association, wrote a proposal to determine whether the renewable resource would be viable to power the station.

They learned that there is continuous wind, enough to power a turbine and generate "buy back" from the local power company.

"We're in the final throes of that proposal," Casey said.

If data supports the theory of constant wind power, the consortium will buy a $95,000, 65-kilowatt Vestas wind turbine. The group hopes to complete construction as early as next spring.

"The final piece of the puzzle has just been submitted to them," Casey said.

Oglala Lakota College will have to establish policies for their utility needs, consider fee connections to the power grid and negotiate a buy-back rate with the power company.

With the rising costs of traditional power sources, Taulman said, OLC will break away from the dependency of fossil fuels and foreign oil for a much cleaner, more efficient, renewable resource of energy.

As fossil fuels and oil reserves dwindle, the college has grasped a power source that will pay back benefits to OLC, the environment and the economy, Taulman said.

"We're going to have to go down this road eventually," Taulman said. "Why wait?"

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com