Evaluation of University of Iowa-Owned Land for Wind Turbine Placement

The University of Iowa is interested in sustainable energy to power its campus and is exploring installing a wind turbine to meet these goals. Conveniently, the University owns a plot of land near Hills, Iowa, on which the turbine could be built. Anemometer data have been collected over a period spanning from May 2007 to February 2009. The wind data have been analyzed using Microsoft Excel. Power curves of the Clipper Liberty wind turbines were used to estimate the expected energy output. Finally, long-term economic analyses were calculated using projected energy output, turbine costs, and costs of electricity.