EXTRA...

Kennedy may stop Bay State from getting Technology Site; Ohio loses its chance

East Toledo won't get America's first laboratory for testing offshore wind turbine blades. It's a decision that likely has cost northwest Ohio a shot at numerous jobs in the renewable energy sector and likely will keep the Great Lakes region from assuming a leadership role in the development of offshore wind power.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman today is expected to announce sites in Texas and Massachusetts as the two finalists for the $11.5 million project... "A lot of work went into it. It was very exciting. It was a good effort," Mr. Calzonetti said last night. "We don't know exactly the reasons why the DOE selected Texas and Massachusetts. We'll go forward from here."  ...But Robert Kozar, a former NASA official who was hired in early 2006 as a special projects official in UT's research office, also said he had heard Texas and Massachusetts will be named as the two finalists.

Texas and Massachusetts are well ahead of the Great Lakes region in terms of possible construction of offshore turbines.  Texas on Monday announced it had the nation's first platform for collecting offshore wind ready to go out into the Gulf of Mexico from the Galveston shoreline.

Massachusetts is even further along with its Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound, awaiting word on permits to build 130 turbines for what would become America's first offshore wind farm... Read the rest of this Toledo Blade story here.  Leave a comment
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Texas says Ted Kennedy may stop Mass. getting facility

Cape Cod TODAY has obtained the document below from the Texas General Land Office bragging about how Ted Kennedy may have prevented Massachusetts from being given a major, new Federal testing lab due to his efforts to stop Cape Wind.

The dicument reads in part,  “Ted Kennedy has fought wind energy in Massachusetts, but Ted Kennedy is not from around here,” Patterson said.

“In Texas, we welcome wind power and the money that comes with it. I’m confident the Department of Energy will appreciate what we have to offer.”

 Here's the rest;

Texas is finalist for wind turbine research facility
$80 billion international market for turbines at stake

AUSTIN — Texas will square off against Massachusetts in a showdown for a new, national large-scale wind turbine research and development facility, announced Jerry Patterson, Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office. The facility would replace the Department of Energy’s existing test center in Colorado.

“Ted Kennedy has fought wind energy in Massachusetts, but Ted Kennedy is not from around here,” Patterson said.

“In Texas, we welcome wind power and the money that comes with it. I’m confident the Department of Energy will appreciate what we have to offer.”

Wind is the fastest growing source of energy in the world today. And Texas is the top generator of wind power in the nation. Last year alone, Texas built nearly a third of the new wind power installed nationwide.

Under Patterson, Texas signed the nation’s first and second leases for the development of offshore wind power.

And no coastal state has greater wind energy potential than Texas. Texas could generate as much as 10 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, according to resource assessments conducted by the University of Houston. The nation’s cumulative wind power capacity is currently 9,971 megawatts. The booming growth of the wind industry in Texas makes the state a natural fit for the testing of the huge turbine components required for future wind farms.

 Patterson has likened the potential impact of the Alliance’s proposed National Large Wind Turbine Research & Testing Facility to that of NASA in Houston during the space race in the 1960s. A Texas-sized test facility will give the U.S. an advantage in getting a bigger share of the projected $80 billion annual international business in designing and building turbines.

“Anyone building wind turbines will want to be near this facility,” Patterson said. “A Texas facility will be a magnet for research and manufacturing. It will establish Texas as a worldwide leader in wind power for many years to come.”   

deep-water ports, strong gulf winds and political will to make our coast the perfect site for the new blade-testing facility,” Patterson said. “The only hard part here will be deciding where along our 367 mile coast to place it.”

Patterson made the announcement on behalf of the Land Office and the Lone Star Wind Alliance, a Texas-led coalition of universities, government agencies and corporate partners created to prepare the proposal for submission to the federal government.

Patterson has likened the potential impact of the Alliance’s proposed National Large Wind Turbine Research & Testing Facility to that of NASA in Houston during the space race in the 1960s. A Texas-sized test facility will give the U.S. an advantage in getting a bigger share of the projected $80 billion annual international business in designing and building turbines.

“Anyone building wind turbines will want to be near this facility,” Patterson said. “A Texas facility will be a magnet for research and manufacturing. It will establish Texas as a worldwide leader in wind power for many years to come.”

The Consortium’s proposal to DOE enjoys the full support of the Texas Congressional delegation, as well as leadership at the state level including Governor Perry, Speaker Tom Craddick and several Texas State House and Senate members.

“We are thrilled that DOE has included Texas in the final round of competition for the new facility,” said Ray Flumerfelt, Dean of the Cullen College of Engineering at the University of Houston. “Our proposal, as well as the Lone Star Wind Alliance, will only get stronger as we move forward. I am confident that the new wind facility will be housed along the Texas coast and we look forward to working with DOE to that end.”

In May, the Department of Energy announced it is seeking partners to build a new facility capable of testing blades up to 70 meters long. In addition to Texas, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio and Virginia submitted applications for the test facility.

Texas brought together a coalition of its best academic minds, industry leaders and public servants to focus on this bid, which was submitted to the Department of Energy by the University of Houston. Austin-based Good Company Associates is coordinating the coalition’s efforts.

The Lone Star Wind Alliance includes the University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, West Texas A&M University, the Houston Advanced Research Center, Stanford University, Montana State University, New Mexico State University, Old Dominion University, the Texas General Land Office, the State Energy Conservation Office, the Texas Workforce Commission, Governor Rick Perry and Good Company Associates.