Two U.S. states in running for national wind turbine research facility
WASHINGTON, DC, US, March 21, 2007. The states of Texas and Massachusetts are finalists for a national large-scale research facility for wind turbines.
Last May, the U.S. Department of Energy solicited partners to build a facility that could test blades of 70 m in length and would complement the DOE’s existing test centre in Colorado. In addition to Texas and Massachusetts, applications were submitted by Iowa, Maine, Ohio and Virginia.
The partnerships in Massachusetts and Texas will move on to a final competitive round, and the finalist will be awarded a Cooperative Research & Development Agreement with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the middle of this year. Under the CRADA, DOE will provide US$2 million in capital equipment to the blade test facility in addition to technical assistance; the estimated capital cost of the facility is $9 to $12 million.
The six applications scored by a technical panel comprised of DOE experts and representatives of the wind industry. Criteria included the overall likelihood that the business plan would expeditiously result in a blade test facility and the degree to which the proposed facility provided equitable access rights and intellectual property protection to wind industry members outside the partnership.
“Ted Kennedy has fought wind energy in Massachusetts but Ted Kennedy is not from around here,” said Jerry Patterson of the Texas General Land Office. “In Texas, we welcome wind power and the money that comes with it.”
Patterson made the comments on behalf of his agency and the Lone Star Wind Alliance, a coalition of universities, government agencies and corporate partners that was formed to prepare the proposal for submission to the federal government. The potential impact of the proposed ‘National Large Wind Turbine Research & Testing Facility’ is comparable to the NASA space agency in Houston during the 1960s space race, he explained.
The Alliance includes the University of Houston, University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, West Texas A&M University, Houston Advanced Research Center, Stanford University, Montana State University, New Mexico State University, Old Dominion University, Texas General Land Office, State Energy Conservation Office, Texas Workforce Commission, Governor Rick Perry and Good Company Associates.
“Texas has a deep industrial know-how based in our history of oil and gas development,” he notes. “Texas has the deep-water ports, strong gulf winds and political will to make our coast the perfect site for the new blade-testing facility; the only hard part here will be deciding where along our 367 mile coast to place it.”
In Massachusetts, partners include the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, University of Massachusetts and Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Development. MTC is the state's quasi-public agency to develop the renewable energy sector and it administers the Renewable Energy Trust.
The test facility is designed to give an advantage to the United States in sourcing a larger share of the projected global market of US$80 billion a year in designing and building wind turbines. Wind is the fastest growing source of energy in the world and Texas is the top generator from wind in the U.S. Last year, the state installed one-third of the new wind capacity in the country.
Texas could generate 10,000 MW of offshore wind energy, according to resource assessments conducted by the University of Houston. The cumulative wind power capacity in the U.S. is 9,971 MW and the booming growth of the wind industry in Texas makes the state a natural fit for the testing of the turbine components required for future windfarms.
“Anyone building wind turbines will want to be near this facility,” says Patterson. “A Texas facility will be a magnet for research and manufacturing; it will establish Texas as a worldwide leader in wind power for many years to come.”
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