Ballinger Texas Moves forward on March 10th
Ballinger Independent School District's is progressing with the 2007 CREBs proposed community wind project
Foreground: Construction of Mitsubishi 250 turbines similar to Ballinger's proposed project
Matney-Frantz Engineering is scheduled to meet with the Ballinger Independent School District's (BISD) board in Ballinger, Texas on Monday, March 10th to report on due diligence progress. The Texas school district was one of fourteen entities for whom MFE prepared and submitted applications for federal Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) in 2007. All of the fourteen MFE prepared requests received IRS allocations in-full, Ballinger being awarded the equivalent of about 1 million dollars (or 750 KW) in bond sales. As CREBs legislation requires the first bond payment be made by the end of 2008, Ballinger is looking to begin construction this summer.
In January the Ballinger school board elected to move forward with the proposed project’s due diligence phase. This project feasibility study is underway and its results will be the focus of the March 10th meeting with MFE. Among the major components assessed by due diligence are interconnection and power sale options. Ballinger superintendent Scott Goen and MFE principal engineer Claud Matney met with the wires company which services the Ballinger district, AEP, on February the 19th. Mr. Matney will meet with representatives of Direct Energy on February 25th in Austin to discuss power sale options.
Preliminary plans describe construction of three community wind sized turbines as an extension of the high school campus’s soccer fields. These 250-KW Mitsubishi turbines are remanufactured, which means that since previous operation they underwent significant overhauls, such as generator rewinding, gearbox rebuilding, hub re-surfacing, new controls and rebuilt hydraulics.
Ballinger ISD is a bellwether of community wind development (CWD) in West Texas. This CWD project enhances the district finances by establishing the district’s ability to generate its own power. By producing some of its power, Ballinger ISD plans to offset district energy costs with behind the meter interconnection.
To learn more about Ballinger’s plans to become a more sustainable community, both economically and environmentally, read the article linked below from the San Angelo newspaper. Further information on CREBs, including other community projects underway can be found here at Matney-Frantz Engineering’s website.
