Aug. 26--CONNEAUT -- One day after city officials expressed enthusiasm for a wind turbine project, Conneaut's Board of Education followed suit, authorizing a letter of intent to launch a turbine project at the local district's middle school.

The motion to issue the letter followed a 90-minute presentation Tuesday night by Mark Boumansour, vice president of sales and marketing for NexGen Energy of Boulder, Colo.

The board's action doesn't necessarily mean a turbine is coming to Conneaut Middle School. While initial examinations show the site to be promising, more detailed work ultimately will decide the project's fate. Various permits also must be obtained, Boumansour said.

While construction could start late this year, early 2010 seems more likely, he said.

Barring snags, NexGen would erect a 50-meter-tall turbine behind CMS on Gateway Avenue. Fifty meters is about the equivalent of a 15-story building. The big machine would create power that will be sold exclusively to the school; no surplus will be sold via the grid, contrary to prior reports.

Cost to the district will be $0.99/kWh, with a 3.9 percent increase annually over the 10-year life of the agreement.

The project will not cost the district a penny, except a $9,500 good-faith fee that will be refunded via energy credit beginning in the fifth year of the agreement. NexGen will pay all design and permitting fees, construction and hookup costs.

Board members peppered Boumansour with plenty of questions about the turbine and the savings the district may realize. Nicholas Iarocci wondered if utility discounts the district enjoys via membership with the Ohio Schools Council, which expire in June 2011, actually makes the NexGen rate more expensive.

Boumansour conceded the district may pay a few pennies more per kilowatt hour at the start of the 10-year pact, but he was confident rate hikes in the future will help the building shave its energy bill in the long run. He fully expected FirstEnergy rate hikes that would exceed the 3.9 percent increases in the NexGen agreement.

"You know exactly what you will pay," he said. "Our proposition is in predictability."

The turbine will create about 20 percent of the school's electricity needs. The low figure allows the school to add other options into its "energy portfolio," Boumansour said.

NexGen, as a for-profit business, will receive tax credits recently made available in Ohio to alternative-energy developers. Such credits cannot be earned by tax-exempt entities like schools, that want to build their own turbine, Boumansour said.