WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) -- A number of Central Wisconsin educators got a bit of summer school on Thursday from Wisconsin Public Service.
It's part of the Wisconsin K-12 Energy Education Program, or KEEP. WPS spokesperson Kelly Zagrzebski says the KEEP Program helps school teachers learn more about the way the power grid and its components work to help with their continuing education. "What we're doing is working with our educators, our experts on teaching them about energy. And letting them take it back to their classrooms to teach our future customers, lawmakers and business owners about energy."
Zagrzebski says 11 educators from across Central Wisconsin got a crash course in how hydroelectric power works up close with a tour of the Wausau Hydro Plant. "They were able to get in and take a look at the turbines, able to look at the water, walk across the gates, an even got an opportunity to look at some of the kayakers that were practicing today."
Wausau Hydro plant is one of the larger dams in the WPS Network, and Zagrzebski says it's only one of a number they run along with Wisconsin river and other waterways. "It generates about 5 megawatts, which is small in comparison with Weston Unit number 4 which is about 500 megawatts, but still 5 megawatts of renewable energy."
The KEEP program is run out of UW-Stevens Point's teacher education services.