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Wind turbine testing coming to Wyoming; $2.5 million test site to be built
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Wyoming’s incessant gales have attracted the first commercial wind turbine-testing facility in the United States.
With a matching state grant, Underwriters Laboratories Inc. will build a $2.5 million test site eight miles south of Cheyenne adjacent to a commercial wind farm across the state line in Colorado.
Associated Press
"It’s kind of an opportunity for the manufacturers to have an independent proving ground for new technology," said Bill Colavecchio, UL’s general manager of renewable energy, from the organization’s laboratory and testing facility at Research Triangle Park, N.C.
The state has committed 2 square miles of trust land for the site, which will include a 3,000-square-foot energy-efficient structure to house about eight workers.
"Our projections are to expand our entire wind team in the next five years to about 15 people, and our intention is to move our entire wind turbine certification service to the Wyoming site," Colavecchio said.
Certification is necessary for most wind farm developers to obtain bank loans for expansion, but examination of operating turbines requires taking turbines off-line. Many are also in remote locations.
"This site would alleviate those difficulties," he said.
The state land has historically been leased by ranchers for cattle grazing. UL will share the site and reimburse cattlemen for the portion of grassland used for testing.
Tom Fuller, state energy program manager for the Wyoming Business Council, said the facility will attract the brightest minds in the rapidly growing wind energy field, including students, customers and contractors.
"The increasing size and sophistication of wind turbines has dictated the need for a testing facility at a site where constant winds occur at the velocities which allow performance of these machines to be monitored," he said.
The turbines will range from small 10-kilowatt machines used on farms and ranches "up to the biggest that they make," he said.
The site will have capacity to create up to 30 megawatts, enough to power 9,000 homes per year, but production is not the chief goal.
"The function of the facility will be to certify and to test turbines," Fuller said. "So those wind turbines would be there for a while, through the certification and testing, and then be taken down."
Any power generated will be sent to a substation at the nearby Ponnequin wind farm owned by Xcel Energy.
The state’s share of the cost, $1.25 million, comes from its share of Petroleum Violation Funds, which resulted from fines levied against oil companies that overcharged customers during price controls in the mid-1970s.
The state money will be used to demonstrate conservation and renewable energy components of the building such as modern insulating materials, solar panels, low-energy lighting, water-thrifty appliances and a more efficient transformer that converts voltage so it can be used on the Western power grid.
"We’ll make it accessible to other businesses and other interested parties in Wyoming so they can get access to some of the innovative materials that we’re going to use in this building," Colavecchio said.
Gov. Dave Freudenthal said he hopes the project will bring additional knowledge and expertise to the state.
"By using energy-efficient materials, it could also mean an excellent opportunity to showcase Wyoming and its renewable resources," he said.
Underwriters Laboratories is a not-for-profit organization based in Northbrook, Ill. Its 6,000 employees certify the safety of numerous consumer products. Last year, UL tested 103,286 products.
Copyright © 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.
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