The US Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, has announced that the Clemson University Restoration Institute and its partners have received a $45 million grant from the US Department of Energy, combined with $53 million of matching funds, to build and operate a large-scale wind turbine drive train testing facility at the institute’s research campus on a former Navy base.
The university’s partners are: the Charleston Naval Complex Redevelopment Authority; the South Carolina Department of Commerce; the State of South Carolina; South Carolina Public Railways; the South Carolina State Ports Authority; and private partners RENK AG, Tony Bakker and James Meadors.
The testing facility will be housed in Building 69, a former Navy warehouse adjacent to existing rail and ship-handling infrastructure, and will be capable of full-scale highly accelerated testing of advanced drive train systems for wind turbines in the 5 megawatt to 15 megawatt range, with a 30 percent overload capacity. Planning and construction of the facility will begin in the first quarter of 2010 with a targeted operational date in the third quarter of 2012.
John Kelly, executive director of the Clemson University Restoration Institute and vice president of public service and agriculture, said this award will further Clemson University’s strength in research and education and support the establishment of a wind energy manufacturing cluster in South Carolina. “As the wind energy market emerges along the East Coast and turbines continue to grow in size and weight, South Carolina is strategically positioned to serve as an industrial hub for this evolving industry,” Kelly said. The Department of Energy estimates that South Carolina could gain 10,000 to 20,000 new jobs related to the wind power industry during the next 20 years. In the short term, the Restoration Institute estimates the initiative will create at least 113 temporary jobs associated with construction of the facility and 21 full-time jobs. It also will generate 568 indirect jobs for a total of 852 jobs.
Nick Rigas, director of the Restoration Institute’s Renewable Energy focus area, said the state-of-the-art testing facility, combined with South Carolina’s strengths that include outstanding port and large-scale shipbuilding facilities, local steel manufacturing and world-renowned research institutions, mean the state will play a central role in realizing the nation’s energy goals. “The importance of this grant should not be understated,” Rigas said. “Clemson, together with the industry that will grow around the testing facility, will drive wind energy research nationwide”.
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