By Andy Owens
aowens@scbiznews.com
Published Nov. 24, 2009

Clemson President Jim Barker compared the university’s announcement Monday of a multimillion-dollar wind turbine facility at the Restoration Institute to Boeing’s coming to North Charleston.

But the U.S. Department of Energy said it could be bigger, in terms of job creation. The proposal writers who worked to secure the research grant — the largest in the university’s 120-year history — quoted the Energy Department as saying 10,000 to 20,000 jobs related to the development of wind energy could be in the state’s future over 20 years.

“This positions Clemson and South Carolina to become national leaders in the development of wind energy and to benefit from the green economy,” Barker said during a conference call on the announcement.

Clemson will test the next generation of wind turbines and drivetrains at the Clemson University Restoration Institute’s research campus on the old Navy base, which includes the Warren Lasch Conservation Center, where the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is being preserved.

The Restoration Institute and its partners on the proposal and project include the S.C. Commerce Department, the S.C. State Ports Authority, Charleston Naval Complex Redevelopment Authority and S.C. Public Railways. Private partners include Renk AG, a manufacturer of special gears, components of propulsion technology and test systems; Tony Bakker, founder of Daniel Island-based Blackbaud and majority owner of the Charleston Battery soccer team; and James Meadors, head of Meadors Construction and chairman of the Charleston Green Committee. Other organizations also will be involved as the project progresses, including the Savannah River National Laboratory, which will handle the data processing.

The project has received a $45 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. That money will be combined with $53 million in matching funding and in-kind work and donations for the construction and operation of the testing facility.

The move is expected to start creating jobs in January, beginning with hundreds of construction jobs. Researchers and engineers from Clemson said it would position the nation’s most important site for wind energy research and development on Charleston’s waterfront.

Nick Rigas, director of renewable energy at the institute and vice president of the wind farm development company EcoEnergy, said the immediate jobs would include:

• Construction jobs.
• Electrical engineering and development.
• Handling of large pieces of equipment.
• Jobs at the facility related to testing.
• Jobs at the facility related to hosting the companies testing their projects.

Right now, nothing like it exists, though smaller wind turbine test facilities exist elsewhere in the United States. The Restoration Institute will test turbine drivetrains, which can produce from 5 megawatts to 15 megawatts of power. One megawatt of power can power about 400 average U.S. homes for one year, Clemson researchers said.

“It gives us a chance to build something that’ll eventually result in offshore wind energy in the United States,” Barker said.

In the short term, there isn’t a ready market demanding this technology, but the proposal writers are certain that demand will grow across the world for turbines and wind farms that can generate massive amounts of electricity, and they said the awarding of the grant shows that the U.S. Department of Energy agrees.

“So the market is expected to grow, especially along the East Coast of the United States,” Rigas said. “This facility will be unique in the United States and also unique in the world.”

The wind turbines that will be tested in North Charleston can measure more than 20 feet in diameter and 60 feet long and weigh 18,000 pounds without the supporting tower structure.

“These are probably on the lower end of the new machines that we would be testing,” said Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, development director for the Restoration Institute.

The turbines are so massive, they will have to be transported by sea, which was why working with the S.C. State Ports Authority was a vital part of the proposal. That is also why S.C. Public Railways is building a spur to assist in the maneuvering of the electrical giants once they get onshore.