Three wind turbines, to be built on the South Farms at the University, have marked the beginning of a University-wide effort to promote alternative energy sources and energy conservation on campus.

Since its establishment in 2003, the Clean Energy Technologies Fee, a $4 yearly fee charged to each student at the University, has generated an estimated $70,000 per semester to help fund various sustainable energy technologies on campus.

Since the fee was instated, funds have been approved for the turbines and are in the process of being approved for other projects on campus, said Matt Malten, campus sustainability coordinator on the Energy Subcommittee of the University Committee on a Sustainable Campus Environment.

“Initially (the Committee on Sustainable Campus Environment) wanted to go after a large renewable energy project – something that would make a statement,” Malten said.

The wind turbines will be the first project the fee will fund. The dimensions and exact location of the turbines are still unknown because the University has been unable to find a supplier, he said.

The University is looking to buy turbines, which will generate at least 1.5 megawatts of power each, to supply 2.7 percent of the University’s energy needs, based on projections using last year’s energy use, Malten said.

Along with funding from the fee, and from the University, the turbines also received a grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation. The foundation provided $2 million for the project.

Ed Miller, program director at the foundation, said they decided to increase the grant from the normal amount of $1.4 million, for a project of this size, to make a two-to-one match of the students’ $300,000 Clean Energy Technologies Fee contribution.

“We were very excited about the U of I project because it was the only multi-turbine local wind project that had been proposed to us,” he said. “We also were very impressed with the student funding from the student fees.”

A project undergoing approval to receive funds from the fee is a model wind turbine. It is being built by the Engineers Without Borders group on campus. Students in the group started building the turbine last semester and hope to mount it onto Everitt Lab this summer, said Jessica Koschmeder, president of the group and junior in Engineering. Funds from the fee will mostly pay to install the turbine on top of the building. The University’s Engineering Design Council has also provided funding for the project.

The group hopes that the project will be a model for communities and individuals who want to reproduce it. The students built the generator by themselves and made the blades out of yellow pine because of the wide availability of wood and the ease of working with the material, Koschmeder said.

The turbine will generate between 400 and 500 watts, said Jennifer Gaddis, a junior in Engineering working on the project. The turbine is made of three changeable components: the blades, the generator and the power output. This is to allow other students to alter the turbine after it is completed.

“What we wanted to do was create a demonstrational project so that students would be able to be exposed to renewable energy systems and actually get to work with them and also just to create visibility for renewable energy on campus,” Gaddis said.

The Energy Subcommittee is accepting applications with suggestions for other clean energy projects until April 18. Anyone can propose ideas and receive funding. The money, however, will only be allocated for projects related to the University to improve energy efficiency and to bring renewable energy technology to campus, Malten said.