The first wind farm in Dallas County spins atop a historic building at El Centro College in downtown Dallas.
The community college fired up the farm last month to mark Earth Day, and now 80 turbines are generating enough electricity to power 2,000 computers.
The wind farm was proposed by David Browning, the school’s vice president for business affairs. He said that when he began working there in 2008, he was struck by how windy it was around campus.
“Every time I walked outside, I would get hit by wind,” Browning said. “We actually got statistics showing how much our average speed is, which comes to 20 to 25 mph.”
In the next six years, El Centro tested many prototypes before settling on turbines and a supporting metal grid from Hydro-Star Energy. The total cost was $240,000.
Browning said adding more turbines remains a possibility, with space to add 40 to 50. But for now, the staff wants to see how much money the current 80 can save.
“As soon as they start spinning and generating energy, it immediately reduces our utility bill,” Browning said. “Six years ago, we were paying almost 10 cents a kilowatt-hour for utility, and now our utility bill has dropped to 5.5 cents a kilowatt-hour.”
El Centro’s wind farm appears to be the only one operating in Dallas County, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. That makes sense, considering the average wind speed in Dallas is only 8 mph, Browning said.
But school officials had to jump through some extra hoops to put it where they wanted because the top wind speed on campus was on top of the old Sanger Bros. department store, built in 1897.
“This is one of the first buildings to actually have electricity in downtown Dallas,” Browning said. “It seemed like a natural progression.”
The project is also part of a larger sustainability effort at El Centro, and the school is trying to get students involved.
“Mostly because of the influence of David, we’ve always looked at sustainability as something that’s not just recycling, but a broader definition of what it is,” said Paul McCarthy, El Centro’s president.
For example, free DART passes are given to students taking at least six hours of courses during the fall or spring, or taking three hours in the summer. The intention is to give students an alternative to driving.
“All the cars we take off the road with the DART free program ... that’s maybe the biggest thing we do with sustainability,” McCarthy said.
The school hopes students learn from its example to look for solutions benefiting the most people.
And its sustainability effort is potentially keeping a lid on tuition rates.
“Our overall charge from our community is to provide a quality education to the people of Dallas County at a very low price,” Browning said. “What this does and what our other ideas and other sustainable cost-saving measures do is keep our costs low as funding from other sources shrink.”
Staff writer Matt Peterson contributed to this report.
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