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Wind monitors serve as 'road test' for larger wind farms |
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Monday, 08 October 2007 |
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The South Carolina Institute for Energy Studies, a research and development organization housed at Clemson University, is researching ways to harvest the wind’s energy.
By Shelia Watson
The latest efforts to bring some measure of wind power to the Palmetto State are under way with the construction of two wind monitoring stations, one in the Grand Strand area and one in North Charleston.
Both stations are part of a project that will determine the feasibility of using wind power to generate commercially viable electricity.
The South Carolina Wind for Schools is a project of the South Carolina Institute for Energy Studies, a state-chartered research and development organization housed at Clemson University whose mission is to develop energy resources to promote economic development and energy security. The project is being managed under the umbrella of the Clemson University Restoration Institute.
Nick Rigas, director of SCIES, said the project is educational and sets the stage for the use of wind power along the South Carolina coast as a precursor to future offshore wind development.
In June, Clemson partnered with students and engineers from Coastal Carolina University, Santee Cooper and the Savannah River National Laboratory to construct the station on Waties Island, an undeveloped barrier island in Horry County. Construction of a similar station at the Restoration Institute on the former Navy base in North Charleston took place in July.
Three anemometers, or wind gauges, were installed at 30-, 40- and 50-meter increments on a mobile 160-foot tower and were equipped with wind direction, barometric, temperature and solar sensors.
Data will be collected for one year to determine the potential of wind-based energy sources. The Savannah River National Laboratory will analyze the results to assess opportunities for large-scale and commercial wind-power generators.
Rigas said he hopes the initiative will help establish South Carolina as the industry hub for offshore wind development along the Atlantic Coast.
“Our mission is to educate students and the public on this clean and environmentally friendly alternative energy,” he said. “These two stations will serve as the first steps in establishing a viable coastal and offshore wind program in South Carolina that can help diversify our energy resources and lead to economic development.”
Rigas said already the wind readings look promising for the use of wind turbines in both areas.
“If the data bears out the promise, turbines could go up in a year,” he said.
However, a few turbines in those areas will power only a fraction of the state’s energy needs, and “coastal land is an expensive, scarce resource,” Rigas said. He said researchers are determining whether an offshore wind project could be the answer for wind-power generation.
Rigas led the Southeast Regional Offshore Wind Symposium, which was held in Charleston earlier this year and hosted by Clemson, Georgia Institute of Technology, North Carolina State University and Coastal Carolina University. Rigas noted that the high profile of the sponsors of the event—Santee Cooper, Savannah River National Laboratory, the South Carolina Energy Office and the U.S. Department of the Interior—Minerals Management Service, all big players in the energy industry—underscores the critical nature of wind power and its potential.
Rigas called the quest to harness wind power “a global issue with global factors that have global consequences.”
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