It is a pure, plentiful natural resource.
Right now wind is in high demand.
and it holds the potential to transform
the way we power our homes and businesses.
It's changing the way power is being made in the country.
It's really having an impact.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is at the forefront of wind energy
research and development. NREL's National Wind Technology Center
near Boulder, Colorado
is a world-class facility dedicated to accelerating and deploying wind technology.
It's great to be working in a job and surrounded by people who
are passionate and know that what they're doing
is making the world a better place.
And NREL is leading by example. A one megawatt photovoltaic array complements
the turbines to offset the site's power consumption.
At this point the wind center generates
over half with the entire energy needs for all of NREL.
On a day when it's windy and it's sunny,
we're putting a lot of power on the local utility grid.
The National Wind Technology Center is located where wind
funneled through Eldorado Canyon spills onto the plains,
an ideal test site.
We'll have many days in the winter with winds over 50-60 miles an hour
and often a handful of days with winds of 90-100 miles an hour.
That makes it a really excellent site for understanding the full range
of operating conditions these wind turbines have to withstand.
The extreme conditions here allow NREL and its industry partners
to insure these machines deliver
in any environment. They're testing a range of
turbines from smaller residential sizes to the Siemens utility-scale 2.3 megawatt machine.
which is a real giant. It has a rotor diameter over 100 meters
This wind turbine is one of the largest now operating in the United States.
It's providing critical information on aerodynamics and load capabilities
and it's one of two massive new turbines added to the site
in 2009. The second is a General Electric 1.5 megawatt machine
owned by the Department of Energy. Every time I try to guess where
the maximum size the machine will be I'm always wrong.
It keeps growing and growing. The towers are taller to tap into
the higher winds at greater altitudes.
These machines are more powerful. They produce more energy and they
have to perform. Although it looks like the machines are operating at a
graceful steady pace the reality of the wind environment that they're having to
endure is quite turbulent and very unsteady.
This is the control room for the dynamometer test facilities.
This is the world's first test facility for wind turbine drive trains.
So we're simulating the wind mechanically. A controlled laboratory environment where
industry partners evaluate their prototypes.
What's neat about that is that we don't have to wait for the wind blow
or we don't have to wait for the right conditions to be able to do testing.
To create energy the wind turns the blades which rotate the shaft.
The gearbox in the drivetrain then converts that wind
into power. The drive train consisted this main shaft, the gearbox,
the generator, and then the system that converts that electricity back
onto the grid. Each component must function flawlessly.
This is what we call the industrial user facility.
It' s designed to be able to do
wind turbine blade testing.
The turbine blades are also put through punishing trials.
They are bent. The tip is nearly touching the floor and almost touching the ceiling when it's reflecting.
They even broke it. We test those both
for static strength and for fatigue strength.
Here the 20-year life span of a turbine is tested in months
We're one of maybe 4 or 5 labs in the world that can do this.
The only one in the United States.
The National Wind Technology Center is a global resource for making sure these
machines are reliable, then helping move them to the marketplace.
Right now, wind is the technology that's being
deployed a scale and scope that's really making a difference
in our nation's power generation. Wind makes up three percent of all power
generated in this country and rising.
The goal is 20 percent by the year 2030.
We're on track to meet that goal five years ahead of schedule.
The next frontier is offshore.
It's already a reality in Europe. When we look at the potential for offshore its enormous.
There's so much available wind resource there.
There's enough to - more than enough to - supply electricity for the country.
28 States border a coast.
Inside those twenty-eight states, we use seventy-eight percent of the electricity
in the nation. You can potentially site the wind turbines far enough offshore
that they don't create a visual impact but are still close enough
that transmission problem is greatly alleviated.
Wind is an essential element in shaping a secure, sustainable energy future.
Wind turbines throughout the United States are generating new revenues for
landowners and boosting local economies.
They're bringing jobs. They're bringing good jobs. They're bringing sustainable jobs.
The National Wind Technology Center is developing and delivering the
advancements to optimize wind energy production, minimize impacts on wildlife
and provided at an affordable cost. The goal is to really make
wind generated electricity have cheapest
form energy on the planet. Right now wind energy
is pretty competitive with conventional sources, but if we can
continue to lower the cost of wind energy, we'll get to a situation where it could potentially
be the lowest cost source
of energy in the nation, and that will be transformative.
Wind - it is powered and progress. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is
innovating the clean technologies to forever change
our energy landscape. It's really a great challenge - it's been a great challenge
And it's great joy to see it going out and being used.