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Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) isn’t going to let a valuable research opportunity just blow by.

Instead, the school will harness some of the wind at its Ankeny campus by installing a wind turbine that will give students in its new wind energy program a hands-on research tool.

“DMACC for over a year now has had a wind energy program, so this is a nice next step into that,” said Todd Jones, a spokesman. The program is currently at full enrollment, with 40 students at the Ankeny campus and 20 in Carroll.

Earlier this month, DMACC received approval for a $132,000 grant from the Iowa Office of Energy Independence, which will pay approximately half the cost of installing the turbine.

Two Iowa colleges, Iowa Lakes Community College in Estherville and Grinnell College, currently operate wind turbines.

DMACC’s turbine will have a 100-foot tower and a blade span measuring 60 feet from tip to tip. After it starts spinning, it will generate an estimated 150,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, or about 2 percent of the campus’s power needs. Under the grant agreement, DMACC must install the turbine within the next year. DMACC will issue a request for proposals for the project.