Dundalk Institute of Technology is planning to become Ireland's first third-level campus to generate its own electricity using wind power.
The turbine, which will stand 60 metres above the college, will have blades 26 metres long and is being hailed as Dundalk's "spire".
The project is the brainchild of Mr Larry Staudt, of the institute's centre for renewable energy.
He said: "Having a wind turbine here is logical, because even though the winds on the east coast are not as good as those on the west coast, the fact that we will be using the electricity locally means we are reducing our own electricity bill at the retail rate and therefore it has a good chance of being viable."
The turbine will be in the middle of the 90-acre campus and, apart from the visual impact, will have no other effect on the town: "All the other wind turbines in lreland are on mountain tops in the middle of nowhere. In addition to being the first urban turbine, we will use it as a teaching tool and I am only aware of one other university in Europe having one."
At full output the turbine will be able to produce 900 kilowatts of power, enough to provide the electricity needs of the institute, which is equal to the needs of about 700 houses.