National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, Installs Two of the Largest Wind Turbines Erected at Lab

Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, which is located about 30 minutes by car from the DU campus, erected two of the largest wind turbines ever erected at NREL. A General Electric 1.5 MW turbine and a Siemens Power Generation 2.3 MW turbine were erected.

The turbines will begin operating later this year. According to NREL, the turbines:

"[W]ill run for years under close observation and elaborate instrumentation. With data from these experiments, researchers will be working with the wind industry to increase turbine performance, improve durability and decrease loads. The new turbines also allow NREL to take a significant step forward in generating its own clean electricity and meeting the Laboratory's aggressive sustainability goals and reduce greenhouse gas emissions for its expanding research campus and support facilities. The new turbines are expected to generate twice as much energy as the NWTC uses. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), NREL and Xcel Energy are working to define an agreement that will allow surplus energy to be exported and sold to the local utility grid.

"It's as large as any turbine in North America," said project leader Lee Jay Fingersh about the 2.3 MW machine. "The final design is different than most turbines with a different blade shape. Land-based turbines are getting larger to meet the demand for wind energy. This is the direction of the wind industry and we want to understand the aerodynamics of these new, larger machines."

NREL is the premier wind turbine performance laboratory in the U.S. Beginning in January 2010, professionals from NREL will teach a new course at DU: "Renewable Energy for the 21st Century: Policy, Law, Technology, Markets."