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U of M COT’s wind turbine to blow through campus – professor wants to see wind energy in Montana
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The University of Montana is one step closer to harnessing a breath of the wind that pushes through the Bitterroot valley.
Chelsea DeWeese
Montana Kaimin
Last week the University’s Committee on Campus and Facilities passed a request by the dean of the College of Technology to install a wind turbine on the northeastern corner of the UM’s main campus.
R. Paul Williamson, dean of the COT, said he would like to see the 10-kilowatt turbine — which is about seven stories tall — erected between Campus Drive and the Clark Fork River near the motor pool. He said he would like to see the turbine turn the wind that comes through campus into a hands-on lab in wind-energy technology. This lab would play an integral role in a new program he is trying to establish.
The Alternative Energy Technician/Engineer Program that Williamson has in mind would be offered at the COT in coordination with Montana Tech. In this program, which would be available to anyone enrolled at UM, students could study one year for an alternative energy technician certificate, two years to earn an associate’s degree as an alternative energy technician, or four years to earn a bachelor of science in energy engineering.
The program is still in the conceptual stages — but Williamson’s goal is to have it up and running by Fall 2004.
Williamson champions alternative energy, and said he would like to continue developing a strong curriculum in this field. He said he sees the erection of a wind turbine on campus as an opportunity — not only for students to actively study wind energy, but also as a chance to educate the general public about developments in his field.
In his request to the committee, Williamson wrote that Montana educational leaders must “nudge, pull or drag” the rest of the state into the future alternative energy can offer. There are two niche markets Montana could focus on: Becoming a major supplier of alternative energy and hydrogen, and training the best alternative energy work force in the country, he wrote.
“If we can do these two things, business, industry, funding, infrastructure and jobs will follow,” he wrote.
About a decade ago, the California government looked up toward Montana and visualized large wind farms — a chance for their state to harvest wind energy from a state with wide-open spaces.
Although the wind-farm idea never came to fruition, more research on the issue did, said Jerry Bromenshenk.
Bromenshenk, Montana’s Department of Energy director of the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, channels federal funding to 22 states — one of which is Montana — to make their educators competitive in scientific fields of research.
About nine years ago EPSCoR funded a six-year program in Montana to develop both petroleum and wind energy research.
Montana Tech installed and operated two wind turbines near Norris: one that produces 10 kilowatts of energy and one that produces 50 kilowatts of energy.
COT researched some of the technical aspects of wind energy, such as blade longevity.
The research concluded that wind energy was an important achievement.
“It was a success and we ended up with the largest academically-based wind research team in the U.S.,” Bromenshenk said of Montana students and faculty members. “Wind energy has been on the back burner and come back again.”
Since EPSCoR funding to Montana moved in a different direction than wind energy research about three years ago, the fate of the turbines has been up in the air, Bromenshank said.
“We need to find a home for these turbines,” he said.
Williamson saw an opportunity in the 10-kilowatt-per-hour turbine, recently dismantled it and brought it to the COT west campus where it sits. He said he would rather see it up and running at the UM campus.
The turbine is reminiscent of a large pinwheel, and would produce enough electricity to power a couple of houses while it’s operating.
The tall and relatively narrow turbine folds parallel to the ground when not in use, so students would be able to study the blades. Bromenshenk said this is also good because the University can control when the turbine is erect and visible and when it is not.
“Although these are not huge, they are not tinker toys,” Bromenschenk said. “These are real, bona fide wind-energy producing turbines.”
Williamson said he sees the 10-kilowatt turbine, should it be erected, becoming a part of an alternative energy learning center where wind and solar energy will generate electricity to be used directly at the nearby physical plant, fed into the city’s power grid, or used in an electrolyzer to produce hydrogen that will power a fuel cell.
The fuel cell, which he said would be about the size of a personal computer, fits into the larger picture of alternative energy in Montana.
In a 2003 resolution, the Montana House and Senate put their support behind “all necessary steps” to move Montana into a hydrogen-based economy.
With the erection of the wind turbine, Williamson said, “We hope to begin the process to convert Montana to a hydrogen-based economy based on alternative fuels, have the best-trained alternative energy work force in the country, and move the state forward to become a major producer of alternative energy.”
A major concern brought up in the past is the effect of wind turbines on birds.
Down in Norris, said Bromenshenk, some people were worried about large birds — such as swans and hawks — getting caught up in the turbines or having their flight patterns disrupted.
After a radar study was conducted by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Montana Tech students and local bird specialists, it turned out turbines have more of an effect on small migratory birds, said Bromenshenk.
“The waterfowl paid no attention at all to the turbines, never even got close,” he said.
Because smaller birds fly closer to the tops of ridges than larger birds, Bromenshenk said, a misplaced turbine would get in their way. He said the solution is straightforward: “You simply don’t place the turbine where they fly.”
“Some birds have been killed by flying into turbines,” according to the Green Energy Ohio home page, “especially where little or no consideration was given to bird migration and/or existing populations in the immediate area.
“But documented bird kills at wind turbines are small in comparison to kills at structures we see every day and never even consider as being a danger to our avian populations — namely glass buildings and communications towers.”
Green Energy Ohio is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting environmentally and economically sustainable energy policies and practices in Ohio.
Richard Hutto, an ornithologist and professor of biology at UM, said it’s hard to tell what the impact of the proposed wind turbine will be on local migratory birds because it is hard to predict exactly where birds will be when they leave the ground.
There are still several steps that need to be taken before the wind turbine is erected, said Bob Duringer, vice president of Administration and Finance and chairman of the committee on campus and facilities.
He said the city, as well as Missoula residents, need to be approached before President George Dennison makes any final decisions.
He said that while concerns may be brought up in the future about the erection of the wind turbine, he doesn’t see many obstacles.
“I think on the surface it sounds pretty interesting,” he said. “I think alternative energy is going to do nothing but get bigger over the next couple of generations.”
Aaron Flint, ASUM president, echoed his sentiments.
“I think it’s great for the University, great for his students, and it shows that our campus and our students really want to be a part of finding the solutions to the energy problems of our state,” Flint said.
On Wednesday, Nov. 5th, there will be a free presentation on the proposed wind turbine and the Montana hydrogen economy. The presentation will be held in Room 1 of the Health and Business Building on the COT campus from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
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