The Energy Department announced Monday it will provide $4 million to two projects in Texas and Massachusetts for research into designing and building the next generation of large wind turbine blades.
The department said the Massachusetts Partnership and the Lone Star Wind Alliance in Texas will each received $2 million for equipment at the facilities that are expected to be operating in 2009.
The total cost of the projects will be about $20 million each. Massachusetts has pledged $18 million in grants, loans and other funds. The Lone Star Alliance also has pledged $18 million for the Texas project.
The projects “represent an important next step in the expansion of competitiveness of the U.S. domestic wind energy industry,” said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman in a statement.
The two consortia will work with the department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory to build the facilities.
The Massachusetts partnership, which plans to build the test facility at the Boston Autoport in Boston Harbor, includes various state agencies including the Massachusetts Port Authority, as well as the University of Massachusetts.
The Lone Start Wind Alliance, which will build a testing center in Ingleside, Tex., includes state agencies and nine universities as well as private companies.
By H. Josef Hebert
The Associated Press
25 June 2006
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/06/25/doe-awards-4m-for-wind-research/