By the start of this school year, students in Canon-McMillan School District will get a firsthand view of how wind energy is converted into power.

The state Department of Environmental Protection announced July 12 that the district and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Water Authority in Jefferson, Greene County, were among 15 locations chosen statewide to receive 35-foot-high, technologically advanced wind turbines

Each $10,000 turbine will generate about 1.8 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power the average house, and will be installed at no cost to the participants.

At Canon-McMillan, the turbine will be placed atop a hill near the senior high school. District Superintendent Nick Bayat said the site is highly visible on Boone Avenue and that, although it will be near houses and businesses, he didn't expect opposition to the plan.

A kit to install the system and the hardware is expected to be delivered within the next couple of weeks and, Dr. Bayat said, the turbine should be fully installed by Sept. 1.

The system will be used to power two or three classrooms in the high school or, possibly, a maintenance facility, he said.

"Actually, it is a learning tool even before it's an electric generator," he said, adding that students will use the system in science and technology education classes, and they will calculate energy output and submit the information to the DEP.

Student calculations also will be used to determine cost savings and to analyze data over the next few years.

"I think it's a wonderful idea," Dr. Bayat said.

The locations were chosen from applicants seeking to participate in the state's wind energy program, funded through a grant from the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority.

DEP spokesman Charlie Young said the 15 sites were chosen among 54 applicants because of their high visibility, average wind speed of 12 mph and the educational outreach plans proposed by the applicants.

The small turbines, produced by Southwest Windpower, of Flagstaff, Ariz., can operate in wind speeds as low as 8 mph and are much quieter than their larger counterparts, producing less sound than trees blowing in the wind, according to the company's Web site, www.windenergy.com.

The same system is expected to be installed over the next several weeks at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Water Authority, where it will be used to power a Greene County Airport landing beacon, the county 911 communications tower and a water routing system on a 14-acre property on Greene and Washington streets.

People traveling Interstate 79 north will see the turbine near the Waynesburg exit.

The system will be about 2,000 feet from the nearest house and will "save a few barrels of oil," rather than substantially reduce the authority's $42,000 monthly electric bill, said Joseph Simatic, authority manager.

The authority serves 22 municipalities in Greene, Fayette and Washington counties, and includes 700 miles of pipeline and 12,500 connections.

Mr. Simatic hopes for a far larger return if the authority is successful with a state grant application for a small in-line hydroturbine. Such a system could power about 25 houses and would harness energy through pipeline water pressure.

The authority recently submitted a grant application to the DEP and hopes to receive an answer within three months. The system would be used to power a regulator building, and the authority would be able to sell the remaining energy to its electric supplier, Allegheny Power.

The idea behind the free turbines is to increase public awareness of the benefits of wind energy and to encourage wind energy producers to build manufacturing facilities in Pennsylvania, DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty said last week.

"America needs to create its own sources of energy and find ways to power our future without sacrificing the quality of our environment," she said. "The Small Wind Energy Project is another step along the path to a clean and secure energy future for Pennsylvanians."

Other Western Pennsylvania sites that will receive the turbines are Economy in Beaver County, Harmony Area School District in Clearfield County, Somerset County Technology Center in Somerset County and Bayfront Center for Maritime Studies in Erie.

Pennsylvania is the leading producer of wind energy east of the Mississippi River, although wind power provides less than 2 percent of the energy the nation needs.