HAMMOND | Two energy-generating wind turbines are up and next week their propellers will be in motion -- but only for a day.

The Hammond Port Authority installed the turbines, one at Wolf Lake Memorial Park and the other at the adjoining Forsythe Park, Port Authority Director Milan Kruszynski said, with the intent of tapping into the wind as a source of "green" energy.

The two towers cost about $100,000, with the Indiana Office of Energy & Defense Development offering a $25,000 grant for the project. Officials with the state office will be in Hammond's Robertsdale neighborhood Monday, Kruszynski said, ensuring the turbines do exist and are in working order before they hand over the check.

"They'll be turned off then turned back on at the end of the migratory season, June 15," Kruszynski said. "We are complying with the requests of the bird community."

In addition to a spring period, the turbines also will be turned off in the fall, so as to not create an additional disturbance to the flocks of geese and other waterfowl that leave the area for the winter.

Port Authority employees are working with officials from NIPSCO to install meters at the two sites so the Port Authority ultimately is credited for excess electricity generated by the turbines and put back into the power grid, Kruszynski said.

In other Port Authority business, Kruszynski told board members Tuesday evening that work is scheduled to begin in the coming days on an addition to the Hammond Marina building that will house the Hammond Yacht Club. The group was displaced two years ago when its facility was demolished for the expansion of the adjacent Horseshoe Casino.