Aug 22 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Laura Snider Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.


The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has added the first of two super-sized wind turbines to its research center in southern Boulder County.

Already, more than a dozen wind turbines -- from graceful lattice-mounted units with 2-kilowatt capacities to hulking white turbines from the mid-1980s that can crank out 600 kilowatts -- stand facing into the wind gusting off the foothills at the National Wind Technology Center.

On Friday, construction workers used two cranes to lift 220 tons of wind turbine parts into place. The rotors for the new machine stretch nearly 253 feet in diameter, and when turning, those blades will be able to generate 1.5 megawatts of power.

"This turbine is a modern, utility-scale machine that will serve as a general-purpose research platform," said Fort Felker, director of the wind center.

Thousands of similar turbines are already being used at wind farms across the country, but the blades on those machines need to keep spinning, generating as much electricity as possible and working to recoup investments in the farm.

But at the wind center, researchers will be able to tweak the turbine to get the most energy possible from the available wind in an effort to close the already-shrinking gap between the cost of wind energy and the cost of electricity from fossil fuels.

"Wind energy is cost-effective now, but there are lots of opportunities to be more reliable and more efficient," said David Simms, manager of testing and operations. "We're trying to figure out how to get more wind turbines out there that are more effective."

A second turbine, with even bigger blades -- a 331-foot rotor diameter -- will be installed at the wind center later this year.

The National Wind Technology Center is located across Colo. 93 from Eldorado Canyon State Park. And that's no place to put a wind farm.

The wind, when it comes, can be brutal, gusting in wild, turbulent bursts -- the kind of conditions that are rough on a turbine, flexing the blades and straining the generator. But that's perfect for the wind center. Researchers there are studying how to more accurately and quickly turn turbines into the wind and adjust the pitch of the blades to keep the generator running smoothly.

The location also helps scientists learn how turbines hold up to ice, lightning strikes, temperature variations and violent storms.

"We have 40 hours a year when the wind exceeds 100 mph," Felker said. "The motto is, if you survive a winter at the National Wind Technology Center, you have a pretty robust machine."

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