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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 25, 2007
CONTACT: Geoff Embler or Matt Mackowiak
Sen. Hutchison Announces DOE Wind Test Facility in Ingleside
Facility to Test Next-Generation Wind Blades, be Operational in 2009
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Texas’ senior Senator, today announced that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has selected the Lone Star Wind Alliance in Texas to receive up to $2 million in test equipment to develop large-scale wind blade test facilities, accelerating the commercial availability of wind energy. The Texas facility, to be located in Ingleside, outside Corpus Christi, and a facility in Massachusetts were selected among six applications. The Ingleside facility is expected to be operational in October of 2009.
Senator Hutchison wrote a letter to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman supporting the Lone Star Wind Alliance’s application for this facility on April 4, 2007 and met with the Alliance in late March 2007.
The Lone Star Wind Alliance has been selected to negotiate Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) to design, build, and operate new facilities to test the next generation of wind turbine blades. The Ingleside facility offers a unique facility because the large blades can be delivered by sea. This announcement marks an important step in addressing the insufficient domestic capacity to test large-scale wind turbine blades.
“It is exciting that in Texas we are taking the lead in research and development,” said Sen. Hutchison. “This announcement will bring cutting-edge research and equipment to our Gulf Coast and will help create the next generation of wind energy for Texas and the nation.”
“These two testing facilities represent an important next step in the expansion of competitiveness of the U.S. domestic wind energy industry,” Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said. “We congratulate Texas for their outstanding proposal and we believe this work will build upon the Administration’s goal of prompting states to research, develop and deploy more clean energy technologies.”
The Lone Star Wind Alliance was selected to enter into an agreement with DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to build facilities to test large wind blades, with an ultimate goal of testing blades up to 330 ft. (100m) in length. NREL will work with states to provide equipment and technical assistance for development and operation. This capability will help the rapidly growing wind industry have the potential to supply up to 20% of the electricity consumption of the United States.
According to the American Wind Energy Association, Texas is firmly established as the leader in wind power development, with over 2,700 megawatts installed at the end of 2006 and some 1,000 megawatts currently under construction.
Including the DOE investment, total project costs of each test facility will total approximately $20 million. The DOE investment (Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009) is subject to Congressional appropriations. The Lone Star Wind Alliance has pledged approximately $18 million from state and private sources for initial capital and startup costs.
The Lone Star Wind Alliance, a Texas-led coalition of universities, government agencies, and corporate partners includes the University of Houston; the Texas General Land Office; Texas Workforce Commission; Texas State Energy Conservation Office; Texas A&M University; Texas Tech University; University of Texas–Austin; West Texas A&M University; Montana State University; Stanford University; New Mexico State University; Old Dominion University; the Houston Advanced Research Center; BP; DOW; Huntsman; and Shell Wind.
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