If you were challenged to choose a single word to describe Lake Region State College’s effort to build a wind turbine, it would have to be “tena-cious.” For 10 years, LRSC relentlessly pursued the goal to erect a wind turbine and to concurrent-

ly develop an education program for wind energy technicians. Neither task was easy—at times, the bar-riers seemed insurmountable—but the advocates for wind power at LRSC were not to be detoured. They persisted, tenaciously.

Today, LRSC is the first and only college in North Dakota to offer a two-year wind energy tech-nician training program. When preparations began for the official commis-sioning of the wind tur-bine, we stepped back from our day-to-day work to take the long view of this momentous accomplishment.

What follows is a summary of the chal-lenges and achievements that mark this initiative. Preserving its history is worthwhile, not just for his-tory’s sake, but also for the lesson it teaches—Creat-ing something of great value is rarely easy. LRSC’s wind energy project is a lesson in tenacity.

Please enjoy the story as you learn about the col-lege with the courage to never, never give up!

From the beginning (2003-2007)In 2003, LRSC President Dr. Sharon L. Etemad

(now retired) attended a wind energy conference hosted by the state of North Dakota.

“The idea behind the conference was to educate the public on wind energy and how it is not only developing around the world, but locally in our state as well,” ex-plained Dr. Etemad.

Time passed quickly on her drive home from the conference, as Dr. Etemad considered all of the pos-sibilities surrounding wind energy. By the time she arrived home, she had a plan. The next step would be to present the idea to campus leaders. She hoped they, too, would embrace the idea of advancing the institution with the vast opportunities the field of wind energy presented. The administrative council liked the idea, but no one knew how to get started.

Fortunately, a government agency was conduct-ing a state-wide study to rank North Dakota Uni-versity System campuses for their wind production capacity. The contracted engineering firm, EAPC,

Tenacity!A story of the little college that refused to give upby Kristina Sogge

LRSC President Doug Darling visits the turbine site

Partnerships have made the Wind Energy Tech-nican program very successful. Otter Tail Power Com-pany has produced a video which showcases these win/win partnerships. Go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF7yeOwmU8Q or search Otter Tail Wind Energy on YouTube. LRSC’s prmotional wind technican video also can be found at www.lrsc.edu.

determined that LRSC’s campus held the great-est potential for wind power production. This was good information to know, but no dollars were at-tached to the designation. Finding needed resources would be a huge challenge. Dr. Etemad began dis-cussions with legislative leaders.

Meanwhile, LRSC’s vice president for Instruc-tional Services, Doug Darling, met with Carol Good-man from the Cavalier County Job Development Authority, and their discussions turned to wind power. Goodman was working with NextEra En-ergy (formerly known as Florida Power and Light) which was studying the feasibility of establishing a wind farm in Cavalier County. The company liked the location, but was concerned about the lack of a trained labor force to maintain the turbines once they were up and running. Drive time passed quickly on Darling’s trip home from Cavalier as he formulated a plan to launch a new education program—Wind En-ergy Technician. Goodman and NextEra had helped college leaders recognize the opportunity to link a training program to the anticipated wind power production resource. Now, the college had a double agenda: develop a training program for wind energy technicians, and install a wind turbine to generate power and function as a training lab for students.

Campus leadership continued to discuss the project with the State Board of Higher Education, legislative leadership, and industry partners. There was strong support for the concept, but it was obvi-ous that funding would be a challenge.

A request for funding moved through the higher education approval process and to the Governor’s budget-setting process. It appeared fourth on the list of higher education capital funding requests submit-ted to the 2007 legislature. The requested funds ($1.67

million) would fund the turbine purchase, but many critical as-sociated costs would not be covered.

The college waited anxiously for the outcome which,in the end was bitter-sweet. The legislature

approved the proj-ect but provided no funding. The college could proceed, but only if it could raise the dollars for the tur-bine and the site and construction costs. It was time to re-group.

Focus shifted from securing a wind tower to developing a wind technician training program. Dr. Darling and the campus resource development director, Dr. Paul Gunderson, visited with colleges across the country that trained wind technicians, even making a few field trips to Iowa and Minnesota. They assessed the need of the region and designed a curriculum supported by industry. They also identified the cost

to launch the program, with or without a campus-based turbine available for hands-on lab experience.

Finding support (2008-2009)In early 2008, Dr. Darling and a team of co-work-

ers re-doubled their efforts to find financial support to begin the training program. Numerous grant ap-plications were developed by Dr. Gunderson; Laurel Goulding, vice president for Advancement; Erin Wood, government relations; and Julie Schuler, grant writer. Commitments with matching require-ments were received from the North Dakota Renew-able Energy Commission ($500,000) and the North Dakota Department of Commerce ($500,000).

“We turned over ev-ery rock to find matching funds,” recalls Dr. Darling, “and we had to be creative. NextEra agreed to allow LRSC to use its turbines for training. Revenue lost while the machines were shut down during training qualified as matching funds. Suzlon donated a turbine blade, and its value also counted as match. NativeEnergy agreed to mar-ket the RECs which provided about $200 thousand for the grant. Several additional businesses donated time, ser-vices, and dollars to help us get started,” Darling contin-ued.

In July of 2008, LRSC formed a partnership with Assiniboine Community College in Brandon, Mani-toba. Both schools were developing wind technician training programs and partnered on curriculum design. LRSC began accepting applications, and the program was launched fall 2009 with 24 students.

With the training program up and running, LRSC could turn its attention to the second half of its goal—to build a wind turbine to serve the campus.

“We felt strongly there should be a blend of private and state dollars,” said Dr. Etemad. “There needed to be a partnership in building the infrastructure of the tower.”

With fingers crossed, LRSC once again listed the wind turbine project at the top of its capital project request. The university system determined $2.6 mil-lion would be a suitable request and ranked it third in priority. By the time the request list reached the state legislature, LRSC’s request had dropped down to seventh place on the priority list. Spirits lifted when it was learned that the 2009 legislative budget included the funding requested for the wind turbine. However, the appropriation was linked to a stipula-tion requiring LRSC to apply for federal stimulus funding (AARA) and to use federal funding in lieu of state funding if possible.

Despite concerns about the legality of this direc-tive, LRSC submitted two complex federal funding requests. The second was approved but then denied as it came to light that supplanting state dollars for federal dollars was not possible. The denial made the state appropriation available to LRSC, but precious time and resources had been wasted in the effort to comply with the requirement to apply for AARA funds.

Slowly, but surely (2010-2012)Once the college was able to access the state ap-

propriation—$2.6 million—work to buy and con-struct a wind tower ramped up quickly.

But, during the year-long setback caused by the requirement to seek AARA funds, the Devils Lake airport extended its runway, and the FAA did notapprove the wind turbine location due to safety con-cerns. Finding a new site proved challenging. The site needed to be close to campus, close to a high-voltage pow-er line, not too close to resi-dences, and in a place with good wind. In addition, LRSC now had to factor in the cost of leasing a site and running the power back to campus. Dr. Darling studied maps and wind velocity data and spoke with landowners in the quest for an alternative site.

Finally, it seemed the problem was solved. LRSC would lease a site on near-by state-owned land. Easements were drawn up. A MET tower was installed, thanks to a partnership with Forward Devils Lake, and it began collecting wind data. Approval from the FAA was also secured, but then it was discovered that the state’s lease would cost $100,000 more than the going rate for wind farm leases on private lands.

Back at the drawing board, Dr. Darling again contacted area landowners. One family was pleased to work with the college, the heirs of Alvin Kenner. The available land was close to the original state site, so the wind velocity study was still valid, but the col-lege was required to again request FAA approval (a third application). In the discovery process, the pres-ence of an underground oil pipeline forced the site to be moved the length of a wind blade. This triggered a fourth FAA application.

Finding a wind turbine to purchase proved at least as challenging as locating a site. Countless hours of research and negotiations were spearhead-ed by Dr. Darling.

“It was always a dream to have a GE (General Electric) turbine. The majority of towers in North Dakota are from GE. Since one purpose of the turbine is to train students, it made sense to have one from GE, if possible,” explained Dr. Darling, “but it seemed no company, including GE, wanted to sell a single turbine. They were accustomed to selling groups of turbines to wind farms,” he continued.

Luck changed when just the right connection was made, with EAPC serving as the liaison. LRSC signed a purchase agreement for a 1.6-megawatt GE turbine.

Meanwhile, several important components of the project took shape:

• Site lease agreements were finalized with sister landowners Betty Pikop and Bonnie Hansen.

• LRSC worked with Energy Services Group, a Honeywell Business, to establish an energy perfor-mance contract. The agreement guarantees the utility savings earned over 15 years will pay the difference

between state funding and the actual cost of the proj-ect.

• The FAA determined the overall tower height would be about four feet too tall, posing an air traffic hazard. That problem was solved by scraping four feet off the top of the site, thus lowering the tower.

• New North Dakota regulations required ap-proval from the Public Service Commission (PSC). LRSC commissioned an archeological study and Class 3 Cultural Resource Inventory and solicited public comment through a hearing process to meet compliance rules.

• Because the site is near a wetland, new federal regulations required a formal statement of approval from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

• Agreements were negotiated with Otter Tail Power Company to purchase excess power produced by the wind turbine.

• Approvals were secured from the township and county and adjacent landowners for construc-tion of an access road to reach the turbine site.

• Approvals were secured from the State Board of Higher Education to proceed with the project and address the problem of cost increases due to the many delays to the original timetable.

• NativeEnergy signed a purchase agreement for the renewable energy credits (RECs), committing $200,000 for a 10-year period.

• By summer of 2012, power purchase and interconnection agreements with Otter Tail were complete, additional agreements with Honeywell were finalized, and three easements required to trench the collection line from the tower to campus were signed.

At last, it was time to meet with state legislative monitors for final spending approvals. Even that as-pect of the project proved to be challenging. LRSC’s appointment to meet with the budget section of the legislature fell on top of a commitment Dr. Darling—who was now serving as LRSC’s interim president—had made to coach a group of youth attending the 4-H National Shooting Sports Invitational Tourna-ment in Nebraska.

Not wanting to let his 4-H kids down, nor post-pone the meeting and risk delaying the project, Dr. Darling got into his car and drove from Nebraska to Bismarck for the meeting with the committee and signing of paperwork and then back to Nebraska to finish the shooting contest. Lots of miles, lots of smiles, and both projects proved successful.

It was a joyous day in July of 2012 when bids were officially published for the project. By October, Dr. Darling was in Florida at a GE plant watching LRSC’s turbine be assembled. It had to feel like “pay-day” for Dr. Darling, LRSC’s champion of tenacity!

Mother Nature gets involved (2012)Focus turned to site preparation for the turbine,

tower, and blades that would soon be arriving.“We had no rain for two months,” Dr. Darling

recollects. “Then when time came to officially start the site access road, we got two inches of rain followed by rain every week until the first part of November.”

Mother Nature became the enemy, attacking the project with every available resource—rain, snow, sleet, ice, mud, and wind.

• The ground-breaking ceremony was held on campus because it was too muddy to reach the site.

• Cement trucks delivering concrete for the base became stuck in the mud and required huge Caterpillars to pull them out.

• Eight inches of wet snow fell just as the tower and construction crane arrived. Semi-trucks lined the highway, waiting to unload their cargo.

• When it was time for assembly, freezing rain left a sheet of ice covering everything. Despite the daily use fee of $13,000, the crane sat idle. Workers waited for the sun to melt the ice to avoid the risk of being hit by 50- to 100-pound falling ice chunks.

• Ice also damaged the web camera that was to capture the tower work on video. Falling ice broke the camera and prevented the solar panels from charging its batteries.

• Next the wind picked up, halting crane use and tower assembly for a few more days. Workers resorted to working through the night, when the wind is lower, to complete the project which stands about 400 feet tall.

• Shipping delays slowed the installation of transformers and switch gear and lengthened the fight with the weather as it continued to snow, repeatedly blocking the access road.

• The final cost for the completed unit including the 1.6-megawatt turbine,

switch gear, and tower facility came to just over $7.2 million dollars.

• As a concession to weather, the official ribbon-cutting was delayed until June 19, 2013.

Achieving the goalA commissioning crew from GE came in mid-

February for a week-long inspection to determine the turbine was in proper working order. After 72 hours of proven stability, the LRSC wind turbine went into commercial operation on February 15th, 2013, only a month behind schedule.

February 15 will be remembered in LRSC history as the day the wind turbine project became a reality

with a campus-owned, operational wind turbine.But, for Dr. Darling, who was named president of

LRSC in March of 2013, the true sense of comple-tion for this massive project came the day students in LRSC’s Wind Energy Technician program first scaled the tower with their instructors Jay Johnson and Jerry Neidlinger.“That was the most fulfilling day of all,” he explained.

From now forward, the instructors will main-tain the turbine, the students will use it as a learning laboratory, and the college will know that its electri-cal needs are being met efficiently.

Tenacity truly is a great description for LRSC and its partners. Dr. Darling and the many, many individuals and corporations who worked together on the wind project are to be commended for their creative problem-solving and their determination to never give up. In fact, it is a well ingrained tradition at LRSC—the little college that simply refused to give up.

A word of thanksCommunity support continued to exceed LRSC’s

expectation throughout the entire process. Dr. Dar-ling accepts little credit for the project and instead feels it was a community and industry effort. “I helped to get us all together and move in one direction, but it was everyone working together that made it happen,” Dr. Darling says humbly.

Dr. Etemad, too, is very proud of the support within the Lake Region. “I often say we are not a com-munity college, but the community’s college,” she says.

Partnerships with the following industry and civic leaders have helped bring the program and turbine to fruition: the North Dakota Department of Commerce, NextEra Energy, EAPC, ESG/Honeywell, Suzlon, Nordic Fiberglass, Otter Tail Power Company, Forward Devils Lake, Cavalier County Job Development Authority, Grainger, ECollege, NativeEnergy, Allete, Denali Energy, Haldeman-Homme, Iberdrola Renewables, Just Wind, Outland Renewable Energy, Siemens, Vestas, EMS, and Acciona.

June 19, 2013