Wind Turbine At High School Has Been Offline Since Late September

A power surge that occurred during the rare fall nor'easter that hit the island in late September damaged the control boards of the wind turbine at Nantucket High School, and the unit has been offline for more than a month as a result.

The high school's maintenance contractor for the turbine, PowerGrid Partners, is based in Ohio. Although the company has crews working throughout the Northeast region, it has not yet been able to visit the island to fix the problem.

"I spoke with a representative a few weeks ago, and he told me the company was short-handed and was sending everyone out," Nantucket High School director of facilities and grounds Chip Clunie told the Current on Friday. "At that time, they were in Canada, headed south. They were scheduled to be here this week, but I have not heard from them. I do hope they will be here at the beginning of next week."

"As it is with a lot of our infrastructure, we are at the mercy of off-island maintenance crews," Clunie added.

The 156-foot, 100kw unit was installed near the school athletic fields back in 2010, and has been spinning ever since to help offset a portion of the school district's energy demands

The acquisition and installation of the high school wind turbine was funded largely by a grant from is­land seasonal resident and phi­lanthropist Wendy Schmidt’s Schmidt Family Foundation, in collaboration with a high school student group, Students for Sustainability, and National Grid.

The year after it was installed, the Northern Power Systems NW100 turbine was named in honor of the late John D. "Jack" McFarland, the school's longtime facilities manager who championed the project. McFarland passed away in 2010.

According to the town’s Energy Office, the turbine provides 12 to 15 percent of the school’s electricity demand each year, and generates roughly $35,000 in annual energy savings.