Northern Lights College recently laid out the full height of a 26-metre-tall wind turbine designed to help teach students.
The turbine, located at the Dawson Creek campus, is the result of many months worth of work, according to NLC spokesman Brad Lyon.
"We're the only ones in B.C. to have this," he said.
Construction of the bottom portion of the wind turbine began on Oct. 4. On Thursday, a platform was placed right on the top of the building where students would go on the platform so that they could learn how the turbine works, Lyon added.
Lyon said there is “still some work to do” before the project is completed. He said a metal exterior shell has to be placed on the wood structure, windows have to be installed and a ladder has to be put in place to reach the platform.
“We don't have a firm timeline for everything to be done, as that depends on factors such as weather, but we are hoping in the next few weeks,” he said.
Lyon said the turbine will be a “key component” for the program the school offers that will teach students how to help build and maintain turbines that capture wind energy.
The school’s Wind Turbine Maintenance program is also the province’s only BZEE-certified program. BZEE is short for Bildungszentrum fur erneurbare Energien e.V, a German wind power certification program that has international recognition.
Earlier, Brent Deinstadt, NLC's vice president of corporate services, was quoted as saying that he expected the project to cost close to $950,000. The Federal government gave NLC $225,000 to complete the project, and another $100,000 for the project came from the province's Northern Development Initiative Trust.
Last May, Deinstadt was quoted as saying that he expected the project to finish construction by September.
