CLAFLIN — USD 112 Central Plains School District is one of four school districts in the state to receive $5,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development to install a 1.9 kilowatt wind turbine to educate students on the importance of wind energy as an alternative energy source and to promote rural jobs.

The wind turbine will be located at Central Plains High School - Claflin.

The four school districts are Central Plains, Eudora USD 491, Healstead-Bentley USD 440, and Jefferson West USD 340. They are all participating in Wind Powering America’s Wind for Schools project administered by Kansas State University’s Wind Applications Center, according to an article in renewable energy in Green Technology World by Cheryl Kaften.

The three primary goals of the project are to:

•Engage rural school teachers and students in wind energy

•Educate college students in wind energy applications, which will equip engineers for the growing wind industry

•Introduce wind energy to rural communities, initiating a discussion of wind energy’s benefits and challenges.

There are now Wind Applications Centers at 11 universities, including University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Northern Arizona University-Flagstaff, Colorado State University-Ft. Collins, Boise State University (Idaho), Kansas State University-Manhattan, Montana State University-Bozeman, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Appalachian State University-Boone (North Carolina), Pennsylvania State University-University Park, South Dakota State University-Brookings, and James Madison University-Harrisonburg (Virginia).