In about a year, Utah State University will let nature pay part of the cost of campus electricity, with construction of a wind turbine.

USU owns a power substation at the mouth of Logan Canyon, said Ben Berrett, director of operations and facilities at the university. Canyon winds kick up "almost every night," he said.

"We always thought that may be an opportunity for wind power," he said.

The location is attractive because a substation is there already, on land owned by the Logan-based university. Power and money can be conserved by foregoing a long power line from the turbine to the campus grid.

USU has hired Chevron Energy Solutions to work with the U.S. Department of Energy on a feasibility study concerning wind power. On Dec. 2, workers erected a 50-meter (nearly 160 feet) mast at the site. The mast carries several anemometers.

For about a year, these meters will gauge wind strength and frequency, so officials can decide if enough wind blows past the canyon mouth, and to help decide the number and size of any wind turbines to be erected.

The study will examine costs and lead to a decision about whether wind power is feasible.

Major costs of the project should be "the purchase of the turbine and the installation of it," Berrett said.

Installation should not cost much because the site won't need a long power line, but maintenance should be a recurring expense.

Berrett said the study should take about a year. Every month, a memory chip, like one in a digital camera, will be pulled from the tower and the data checked.

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E-mail: bau@desnews.com