URBANA – The on-again, off-again wind turbine project at the University of Illinois is back on, part of a new campus Climate Action Plan.

The UI will build one wind turbine on the South Farms, financed in part by a $2 million grant from the Clean Energy Community Foundation, officials said Monday. A request for proposals will go out after July 1, when a new state procurement law takes effect, said Steve Sonka, vice chancellor for public engagement.

It will be built just west of Philo Road in Urbana, between Curtis and Old Church roads.

The total cost is projected at $4 million to $4.5 million. Students have pledged $500,000, using income from student clean-energy fees.

The $2 million grant was set to expire in June, but the foundation has all but agreed to extend it "if we're serious about it," said Dick Warner, director of the UI's Office of Sustainability. "The chancellor decided we needed to move ahead. We've committed to doing it."

The UI initially agreed to build three wind turbines in 2005, but the price went up dramatically, prompting officials to scale back the project and eventually put it on hold.

Poised to accept a contract with GE to build a 1.5-megawatt wind turbine 18 months ago, the UI decided not to sign, citing the university's "deteriorating fiscal condition."

At the time Chancellor Richard Herman and Warner said the campus needed to focus on projects with more immediate cost savings – energy conservation. One official called the turbine a "more symbolic" effort than reducing consumption. It would have provided 1 percent of the campus' energy needs.

Since then, the campus has completed several energy-saving projects – replacing inefficient heating and cooling systems – so "it made sense for the turbine to go forward," Sonka said.

Isn't the UI's budget situation still precarious? "You're always making choices," Sonka said. "It's clearly a factor, but we think we're at a point where it's a good thing to proceed with the turbine."

Supporters credit interim Chancellor Robert Easter, who took over when Herman resigned last fall.

"We have new leadership that is much more sympathetic to student concerns and interested in environmental issues," said Suhail Barot, a UI graduate student and president of the student sustainability committee. That panel and Students for Environmental Concerns have been pushing administrators for months to move ahead with the turbine.

"This is a good financial investment for the university," Barot said, a sentiment shared by Tom Abram, sustainability coordinator for UI facilities and services.

"I believe there was some intentional and unintentional misrepresentation regarding the economic viability of the project," Abram said. "Although there are indeed other efficiency programs with better economics, the wind turbine stands as a solid investment on its own merits."

The UI's investment is expected to be paid back in seven years through annual energy savings, a double-digit rate of return, officials said. It will sell bonds to pay for its share, using savings from its energy budget to repay them, Sonka said.

The campus will provide access roads and other infrastructure for three turbines, though only one will be built now, Abram said.