Case Study:

Oxford Hills High School

Gouin Athletic Complex
Skystream 2.4kW

Intent/Goal of the Project:
Supporting an Educational Mission: to foster the students initiative to build a wind
turbine. Developing and including wind-science curriculums to teach the students,
faculty, and community about turbines and wind energy.
Energy Savings through a complete Energy Retrofit: the wind turbine was part of a
overall energy retrofit program to save energy and money. This includes electric lights,
analyzing the building energy efficiency, installing solar photo-voltaic panels and solar
hot water and a wood chip boiler.
Tangible Benefits
The turbine was only installed in July so the full future benefit is not yet determined, because
data is limited
Electricity savings and production are unknown at this point:
The purpose will be to decrease electricity use and costs from the athletic campus, mostly
from the use of football field lighting. The amount the energy-savings is unknown at this
time.
Recognize Students Initiative: While the school district decided to invest in an energy
retrofit, the students drove the initiative to construct the turbine project.
Putting up the turbine and tying it into the grid recognizes the students initiative to get
involved in wind energy.
Educational: Based on data collection; the teachers at Oxford Hills High School will
develop comprehensive educational curriculum to incorporate into their programs.
Specifically, math, science, and information-technology faculty are monitoring the wind
turbine output to incorporate the wind project into their courses and inspire students
educational aspirations.\
Origins of the community wind energy project:
The students at Oxford Hills built their own turbine from a landmower engine and scrap metal,
which briefly powered the schools entrance sign in the fall of 2010. Previously, facilities
manager, David Marshall, had researched community wind before looking into this specific
project, including researching school projects including one at Cony High School in Augusta.


Case Study:
Oxford Hills High School
Gouin Athletic Complex
Skystream 2.4kW

Because of the resourcefulness and ingenuity of the students, and the thorough research of Mr.
Marshall, the school district pursued more information about small scale wind and ultimately
installed the project with tremendous involvement and support from the students.
Initial Project Concerns:
Money: The school district was originally concerned about the investment, but with the turbines
energy performance contract, the wind turbine was a timely and cost-effective investment,
especially in terms of the overall energy retro-fit budget.
Sound: While the turbine is located on a piece of school ground with minimal neighbors, sound
was still a concern. However, there has only been one complaint about sound throughout the
installation and operation of the wind turbine.
Project Benefits:
Educational aspects were the primary objectives of the project. While energy usage and cost
containment were originally seen as a side benefit, but the school district will know more once
more data on performance and generation are known.
Oxford Hills High School energy retrofit program has led the school to be one of the only
projects in Maine with the full suite of renewable energy investments including: LED, PV
panels, wood chip boiler, and wind. This is quite an accomplishment, and the school board,
students, and town are proud of it.
Siting and Project Testing:
No anemometer was used, but the turbine was placed on the windiest site in the district.
No, it is such a small turbine, in the middle of school land. They were not required to test wind,
put up an anemometer, test environmental impacts, etc. There was no grant funding or no
additional permits because it was so small, so no studies or tests were required.
Project Timeline:
Overall planning and implementation: 2 years.


Case Study:
Oxford Hills High School
Gouin Athletic Complex
Skystream 2.4kW

Turbine Research: 6 months
Construction: 2-3 weeks
Development Team:
Superintendent Mark Eastmen (retired) and current Superintendent Rick Colpitts, Facilities
Manager David Marshall, Project Manager John Parsons, and Business Manager Kathy Fanjoy.
The general contractor was Siemens and the installer was Meridith Greig at Aeris Alternative.
Maintenance Team:
Aeris Alternative has a contract and warranty for turbine maintenance.
Permitting:
The town of Oxford Hills issued a building permit for the turbine. Nor further permits were
required or attained because the turbine was small (residential size).
Energy Usage:
The turbine is connected directly to the facilities electrical grid, so there is no need for storage
batteries or additional buildings for battery protection.
Incentives:
They are currently not employing any incentives such as net metering or feed-in tariff.
Turbine Selection:
Skystream 2.4kW was selected due to its low cost, high electricity production relative to cost, no
need for batteries or other supporting facilities, and ease of use for educational data collection.