Invenergy, Ameren, and Vestas have donated a nacelle from the Outlaw wind energy project, located outside of Westboro, Missouri, to Tarkio Tech on the former Tarkio College campus. The nacelle had been cracked during installation, but it was still in good enough condition for Tarkio Tech students in the wind technology program to use for training. The unit was transported to Tarkio on Thursday, January 27, and placed on the campus just north of Brown Gymnasium on the lawn west of Collins Hall.

The nacelle houses all of the generating components in a wind turbine, including the generator, gearbox, drive train, and brake assembly. Having this equipment available will give the students a tremendous advantage since no one is allowed in the towers once they are commissioned. In all other technical programs that Tarkio Tech offers, actual working experiences are created for the students by placing them in real-life working shops. This has not been possible with the wind program, until now. In interviewing students who have graduated from the Tarkio Tech program, the one suggestion received was that it would have been helpful to experience first-hand the environment of the nacelle. Students will now have that opportunity at Tarkio Tech, which is not possible at many of the training programs across the country.

The 90 ton nacelle was delivered Thursday, January 27, with around 30 people in attendance to either watch the excitement or help unload it. Some of the attendees included Bo Graves and Casey Martin, who recorded a video for the Tarkio R-I students to see.