As many communities across Iowa look to wind power to reduce the cost of energy, Nevada seems to be ahead of the game.

Nevada is home to three wind turbines. Two are operated by Nevada’s high school and the third is run by the Story County Medical Center.

Although the turbines cost about $250,000 each to construct and $3,000 a year to maintain, the school is making money.

Richard Scott, the building, grounds and transportation director of the Nevada Community School District, said they make about $70 a day, 365 days a year, even after the expenses are taken into account.

“That’s not too shabby,” Scott said.

The school is able to make money by the selling some of the wind power to Alliant Energy, which feeds the power back into the grid, Scott said.

“On a good year, after selling the power, the school still has enough energy to cover a third of the school’s power usage,” Scott said.

Dave Haugland, the Nevada city administrator, said the medical center has also done well with its turbine.

Nevada pays the medical center for its energy to power the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

“We have an agreement with Story County Medical Center based on the power that they generate each month that we use. We have a rate that we pay them that is a little less than what we pay Alliant,” Haugland said.

“It saves us a little bit of money, but it also brings down the total cost of the medical facility,” he said.

The wind turbines have been so beneficial to Nevada that the city cannot afford not to have them, Haugland said.

“One of their turbines was down a couple of years ago, and it was a considerable amount of dollars to repair it, but the committee that studied the benefits of repairing the turbine found that they would save a lot of money by completing the repairs,” Haugland said.

The city of Ames may decide to follow Nevada’s example.

Sheila Lundt, Ames assistant city manager, said Ames is considering investing in wind energy.

“We are looking at purchasing wind power, but not a wind turbine,” Lundt said.

Ames is going to request proposals from wind power suppliers to come up with a plan to get the power from the turbines to Ames at a low cost, Lundt said.

The wind power will likely come from northwest Iowa, she said.

The Ames Electric Utility Operation Review and Advisory Board held a public meeting at 12:30 p.m. Thursday in the Electric Administration building to discuss this issue.