Winds of change: COT erects turbine in Hellgate Canyon as part of alternative energy program

Paul Williamson leaned into the wind, tipped his head skyward and beamed with the smile of someone looking at a dream come true.

His gaze locked on a giant propeller – a wind turbine – newly erected 60 feet above the ground, whirling and humming in the 25-mph Hellgate breeze.

By BETSY COHEN of the Missoulian

http://missoulian.com/articles/2004/11/11/news/mtregional/news06.txt

Having come from a morning meeting, the dean of the University of Montana’s College of Technology was still wearing his suitcoat as he helped lift the wind turbine off the ground Wednesday.

In the chilly bluster, with his silk tie flapping and his shirt sleeves pushed back, Williamson helped Brian Kerns, his alternative energy project manager, wrestle the 2,700-pound structure upright in a knapweed field at the mouth of Hellgate Canyon, between the Clark Fork River and East Broadway.

When the work was done, both stepped back to admire their effort.

"It’s taken years to get to this point, but it’s a good starting point for people to see the alternative energy program we are trying to grow," Williamson said. "There’s lots of other things that are happening now and are going to happen, but this gives people something to kick the tires on.

"It’s a chance for everybody and anybody to see how wind energy works."

"Listen to that thing hum," Kerns said appreciatively. "What a perfect day to test this thing out."

The turbine, a gift from Montana Tech, is capable of generating 10 kilowatts of electricity, and is designed to be lowered and raised for frequent inspection, study and improvement.

The electricity will be stored in the turbine’s mobile laboratory – one of UM’s biodiesel buses, which will be retrofitted to serve as a data collection center for the wind power station. The electricity will also be used to make hydrogen power in COT’s fledgling alternative energy technology program.

Although much more work needs to get done before the program is fully up and running, Wednesday marked a significant day for UM and COT, for the state economy and for Williamson.

"This is a big stepping stone toward the hydrogen economy, which I think will be an important part of Montana’s future economy and our ability to have sustainable energy," Williamson said.

"The good thing about this tower is that it is adapted to go up and down easily, so it gives people a chance to see it up close and in person," he said. "I’m excited for that because I think people will get a better understanding of what wind power can do, what we are trying to do, and this will be a hands-on learning site."

As the turbine whirled, flashing a maroon and silver blade with COT stamped on it, drivers on East Broadway peered at the site with curiosity. One person pulled in and asked about the structure, and Dick King, the executive director of MonTEC, the university-community technology research center next door, walked over.

"I think this is a terrific addition to what we are doing in this corridor," King said. "We do a lot of partnering with COT. They train a lot of people for the companies we work with, and I think alternative energy education is another way to train people for what I think is going to be the future of our economy."

Change is on the wind, Williamson said. "This is just the beginning."