Ordinance ends district’s large turbine pursuit

Talk about it

The South Washington County School District has abandoned its interest in a large wind turbine as Woodbury officials near prohibiting that type of project.

East Ridge High School will not be the site of a utility-scale wind turbine, but the district may pursue a smaller renewable energy project at the school, said Mike Vogel, ISD 833’s point man on the turbine project.

The decision was influenced by a pending alternative energy ordinance that would restrict the size and location of wind turbines in Woodbury.

“The way we look at the ordinance in the current form is it’s probably not going to allow us to construct the type of wind turbine that we had initially considered,” Vogel said. The district was considering a 190-foot-tall turbine.

The district’s decision comes as the city of Woodbury is completing a months-long review of its first alternative energy ordinance.

See the Oct. 7 print edition of the Woodbury Bulletin for the full story.