The newest exhibit at the North Carolina Estuarium will be “welcomed” at 11 a.m. Friday.

The Sprout Renewable Energy Kiosk, located outside the Estuarium, makes its official debut during the “welcoming” ceremony. About $12,500 in unused funds from the Main Street Energy Fund were used to install the kiosk, which is about 30 feet tall.

The kiosk will be used to educate students about wind power and solar power. It includes solar panels, a wind turbine and weather station. It is designed to withstand winds up to 130 mph.

It was invented by a team of architects, boat-builders and engineers from eastern North Carolina, two of which live in Washington.

“The data generated from all three components serves an exhibit to educate students and the general public,” reads a city memorandum. “The integrated information appears on an intuitive dashboard to help connect weather to the renewable energy it can produce. The stand-alone kiosk is powered by its energy systems to go anywhere with minimal infrastructure coordination. The Sprout kiosk connects technology and information seamlessly transforming the process for learning about clean energy. The full size components are easy to see and Sprout displays real time data on its screen and through a web-interface to any location.”

The kiosk sponsors are PotashCorp Aurora, City of Washington, N.C. Public Power, N.C. State Energy Office and an anonymous donor. The kiosk is not associated with the proposed wind-farm project near Pantego, according to an Estuarium spokesman.

“At Sprout Energy, we recognize the tremendous need to demystify renewable energy and have it become more familiar in daily life. People are hearing a lot about clean energy, but not many have experienced it up close or can connect it to the weather around them,” reads a blog on the Sprout Energy Corp. website. “We know from our conversations with students and other passer(s)by that conversations about renewable energy often turns to a conversation about consumption and further energy efficiency. Those conversations are the ones that we hope will impact new energy choices.”