K-State recently received a used wind turbine from Westar Energy, a donation that the university hopes will aid in the research and exploration of wind energy being performed at the Wind Applications Center.

Ruth Douglas Miller, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and director for the Wind Applications Center, said she is excited about the research opportunities that may be presented by the presence of the turbine.

"Just to have that big of a machine close to campus, available to play with, is great," Miller said. "Also, I can write that in to a [research] proposal, which will make us more competitive in receiving grants. Most universities don't have one or can't use one."

Miller said the Wind Applications Center was founded in fall 2007 with a grant from the National Renewable Energy Lab, with the hopes that the center could increase the public's acceptance of wind power as an alternative energy source by installing small turbines at schools around the state.

The turbine will also serve some educational functions, said Don Gruenbacher, head of the department of electrical and computer engineering.

"We plan to use the turbine in our courses on wind energy," Gruenbacher said. "We are hoping that the faculty, including graduate and undergraduate students, are able to use it to perform tests to analyze the efficiency of turbines and wind energy."

The turbine might also be a draw for students considering joining K-State's wind energy research program.

"I hope it will be a flagship to attract attention to say that Kansas State cares about renewable energy, and to attract cool graduate students," Miller said.

Casey Lauer, director for the Energy and Environment Program, said he believes the turbine's purpose will be primarily educational.

"I see it mainly as an educational tool," Lauer said. "It will have some intermittent benefit in terms of energy supply, but it's not going to be something that's going to take us off the grid."

Lauer said the bigger aspect is exposure and said the donation gets the university thinking about alternative energy.

"If it's somewhere that we can see it as a university community and use it as a learning tool, I see some real benefits for the students," Lauer said.

Although the process of acquiring the turbine is completed, uncertainty remains as to where the turbine will be installed.

"You want a site that has a good source of wind, obviously, but another concern is the environmental impact of the turbine," Gruenbacher said. "Another part is whether that location is acceptable to the public. We need to make sure that there are no impacts on the people living close by, and of course aspects on whether it will affect the animals nearby."

Gruenbacher also said that potential interferences with Fort Riley's wireless communications and radar will be taken into account when selecting a site, as well as the preservation of local archaeological sites. No official date has been set for the turbine's installation, in part due to the many different variables that must be taken into account when choosing a site.

"There is a lot of ambiguity there. We are looking at sometime in the calendar year of 2011," Gruenbacher said. "It will probably be in the latter part of that year because there is such a long process."

In addition to the installation, Miller said she hopes the Wind Application Center can serve as a source of information for people interested in exploring the uses of wind energy.

"We want to educate the whole Kansas public, basically anybody who has questions about wind turbines, whether they want to put up a turbine in a back yard or on a farm, all of those kinds of questions," Miller said. "We want to stretch the limits beyond what is already known about wind turbines."