UCO making switch to Wind Power

[MichaelC]

Excerpt from KOTV

EDMOND, Okla. (AP) _ The University of Central Oklahoma will be the first university in the state powered totally by wind energy, a move that could save the school more than $250,000.

Officials decided earlier this month to buy UCO's 26 million to 27 million kilowatt hours per year in the form of wind power from Edmond Electric.

Now, the fuel surcharge on electricity is 2.8 cents per kilowatt hour but for wind energy the surcharge is 1.8 cents per kilowatt hour, UCO Executive Vice President Steve Kreidler said.

``That used to be the other way around,'' Kreidler said. But he said the price for wind power may not stay lower than electricity from other sources.

``It does the right thing for the environment, and the more wind power we buy the higher the demand. That's actually a natural resource that Oklahoma has plenty of.''

The university, which is Edmond Electric's largest customer, agreed in October 2004 to have about 5 percent of its electricity generated by wind power. Kreidler said university officials hoped to eventually reach about 50 percent, but fuel price increases changed their strategy.