By Molly Parker

mparker@scbiznews.com

Published Oct. 22, 2009

The Clemson University Restoration Institute submitted an application in August for a U.S. Department of Energy grant to build a wind turbine testing facility at its campus in North Charleston.

The Energy Department is expected to name a winner soon, possibly by month’s end, said Nick Rigas, assistant to the vice president at the restoration institute and an avid advocate of renewable energy development.

The application was a partnership with the cities of Charleston and North Charleston and the S.C. State Ports Authority, Rigas said. South Carolina is competing against proposals from five other states: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Michigan and Massachusetts.

The team that is selected would create a facility to which manufacturers would come to test their turbines against accelerated testing protocols.

“To be honest, I don’t know if we have a chance,” Rigas said. “I don’t know how political this thing is.”

He criticized South Carolina’s congressional delegation for what he said appears to be a less-aggressive lobbying effort for the facility than those of other states. Rigas said landing this facility could make South Carolina a major hub of offshore wind energy development and manufacturing.

General Electric in the Upstate served as an adviser on the project, Rigas said. GE Energy’s Greenville plant produces 60-ton wind turbine generators, which are primarily shipped overseas. Other companies wrote letters of support, Rigas said, including Fluor Corp., Siemens USA and Nordex, a German wind blade manufacturer heading into the U.S. market.

With or without the Energy Department grant, the state is forging ahead in its study efforts, said Erica Myers, the manager of renewable energy programs for the S.C. Energy Office.

In 2008, the S.C. General Assembly created the Wind Energy Production Farms Feasibility Study Committee, made up of legislators and private citizens. The committee was charged with studying, reviewing and making recommendations about the potential for wind production inland or in offshore areas.

“There are many things that need to be researched and analyzed before any turbine can be installed. So that’s what we’re in the process of doing,” Myers said.

The committee’s fourth and final meeting is scheduled for 1 to 4 p.m. Dec. 7 in Room 209 of the Gressette Building in Columbia.

Reach Molly Parker at 843-849-3144.