 Robert Thresher, director, National Wind Technology Center, Golden, Colorado (PIX09817) Wind Power Pioneer Interview: Robert Thresher, National Wind Technology Center Date: 2/1/2003Location: Golden , CO"Bob
Thresher has more than 30 years of research, development, engineering, and
management experience in wind technology. He directed wind turbine
research efforts at Oregon State from 1970-1984, and he also spent two
years in Washington, D.C., managing research projects for the Department
of Energy. Bob later conducted wind research at the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory, and by 1989 he was managing the wind research program.
Bob worked with DOE management to secure use of a 280-acre site at Rocky
Flats and developed the National Wind Technology Center. As director of
the new facility, Bob works closely with DOE to make the Center a focal
point for national wind research." — Sue Hock, National Renewable
Energy Laboratory
Q. How did you become involved with wind energy?
A. I was invited to work on wind energy by one of my colleagues at Oregon State
University, E. Wendell Hewson. He was an atmospheric scientist. It was
1973, and we were experiencing the first oil crisis. Professor Hewson was
looking at wind from a meterological point of view. He wanted to use it to
generate electricity, and he invited me, as a mechanical engineer, to help
with the analysis from the mechanical side. Our first funding came from
the public utility districts in Oregon.
Q. What were the most significant break throughs or developments that affected
wind energy implementation during your career?
A. Probably the first significant
breakthrough was demonstrating that large wind turbines on the
multi-megawatt scale could be built and operated. Unfortunately, the first
attempts at this were not cost effective. The second breakthrough was the
wind farm concept, which was piloted in the 1980s in California. The
collective efforts of many people showed how wind farms should be operated
and maintained, and their efforts demonstrated that wind could be a power
plant not unlike a conventional power plant. Again, the technology of the
1980s was not cost effective.
Another significant breakthrough
was the combined efforts of engineers in companies, in the Department of
Energy labs, and on the wind farms. They developed analysis methods and
tools and validated those methods for dynamic analysis of wind turbines.
Most of this work took place in the 1980s to early 1990s. That work
culminated in the development of some computer modeling codes that
included inflow turbulence, unsteady aerodynamics, and aeroelastic
responses of the structure. This allowed comprehensive evaluation of new
turbine designs and allowed the scaling process to develop multi-megawatt
wind turbines seen in wind farms today.
Q. What has been your key contribution to moving the wind industry
forward?
A. Being a spokesman and visionary
for the wind industry, as well as a constructive critic-consistently
believing in wind while striving to work with a variety of groups to
improve the technology.
Q. What are you currently focused on, and what are its prospects for wind
energy?
A. I'm currently focused on
developing, with the wind industry, a vision for the future that embraces
land-based and offshore projects, and ultimately, using wind energy to
produce hydrogen for the hydrogen economy.
Q. What
are the key issues that still need to be addressed to make wind a
mainstream electricity generation option in the United States?
A. Through technology evolution
and hard-nosed engineering, wind-generated electricity needs to be cheaper
than the fuel costs of competing technologies. That is the only way that
it can become a mainstream source of electricity and gain widespread
acceptance and access to transmission and distribution facilities.
Q. Where will the industry/technology be in 2010?
A. Wind
energy is currently the fastest-growing technology for electricity
generation. I believe that it will continue to be in the future, and I
believe that somewhere around 2010, the industry will achieve
cost-competitiveness with conventional generation technologies without any
subsidies.
Q. If you were king for a day, what one thing would you change/institute?
A. If I were king for a day, I would
grow a silver tongue and start a personal campaign to help the big energy
companies see the future benefits of wind energy and all renewable energy
forms. The benefits will be both financial and environmental. They need to
get involved now to be the leaders of the slowly evolving
renewable-energy-based economy of the future.
Q. What has been the highlight of your career?
A. I don't believe that I've
reached the highlight of my career yet. In the near future, I expect to
enjoy watching wind become a dominant generation source throughout the
world. When that happens, it will be the highlight of my career.
Q. Looking back and forward, what advice would you give to the future
pioneers?
A. Be patient, keep moving forward, and don't give up.
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