With some taxpayer help via the Ohio Department of Development, the Bedford Heights-based company is putting up a 120 foot tall, 100 kilowatt wind turbine, which it will unveil at a ceremony on June 23.

Company spokesman Michelle Pearson Casey said that workers were finishing up the installation this week.

Once complete, the turbine is expected to provide about 15% of the power consumed at Olympic, a steel processor and service centre that sells steel to manufacturers.

The company isn't saying how long it will take the turbine, which cost USD 550,000, to pay for itself, but steel service centres use large amounts of electricity for both lighting and processing. A single service centre easily can pay thousands of dollars per month for its power.

One factor that will help make that payback period shorter is USD 200,000 in funding to help pay for the installation, provided by the Ohio Department of Development's Advanced Energy Fund. Department spokeswoman Bethany McCorkle said Olympic is receiving that money in the form of a grant.

Olympic said that the turbine, a gearless, direct drive design with a rotor that is 69 feet across, is mounted atop a 120 foot tower at Olympic's facility on Richmond Road. In addition to providing power to Olympic, it will sell excess power to the local energy grid.

Olympic chairman and CEO Michael D Siegal said that the company worked with both the state and the city of Bedford Heights to put the project there. He said that “It is our intention to continue to pursue these types of opportunities to increase sustainability including and beyond our ISO 14001certification.”

Olympic Steel said it worked with the Alliance-based wind energy company Wind Turbines of Ohio to secure the state grant. The turbine was made in the United States and is being installed by Michigan-based Cascade Engineering.

(Sourced from www.crainscleveland.com)