The wind energy industry in America will continue to grow — the question is will it grow quickly or will it go into hyper speed?

The greatest challenge to the industry's growth lies with the transmission infrastructure. “Whatever happens with the transmission lines will affect the development of wind farms,” says Ed McCallum, senior principal, McCallum Sweeney Consulting, Inc., a site location firm based in Greenville, S.C. McCallum's firm has assisted in the site selection process for wind energy OEMs, such as manufacturers of nacelle generating units. McCallum also adds: “And, what type of technology will be employed to ensure the power is regulated, it is clean, it is consistent, and can it be stored?”

One transmission infrastructure initiative is called the Mountain States Transmission Intertie, which would be an energy transmission highway that will export wind energy from Montana to the Southwest and West United States. The nascent initiative is spearheaded by NorthWestern Energy, an investor-owned utility that provides services to the western two-thirds of Montana; a portion of South Dakota; a portion of Nebraska; and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. “By building this highway it will allow wind energy projects to be developed in Montana and will give the companies an opportunity to get their product to market,” says Rick Edwards, director of key accounts and economic development, NorthWestern Energy.

Moving west to Adams County, Wash., located in the southeastern region of the state, assets such as transmission lines have helped the county attract wind farm developers, says Roger Krug, analyst, Adams County Economic Development. “There are also transmission line proposals in the talking stages.” County officials have been working with a wind farm developer, which as soon as it files for permits, intends to build a number of 1.8 megawatt wind turbines on the west side of the county. Krug notes a number of wind farm developers are researching the county's business advantages.

In other transmission infrastructure activities, officials from the Southwest Power Pool are researching a transmission superhighway for extra high-voltage lines. The lines would connect tens of thousands of renewable megawatts into the electric grid. The Southwest Power Pool, based in Little Rock, Ark., consists of members from nine states, operating 47,000 miles of transmission lines. In regard to wind energy, the Southwest Power Pool has almost 3,000 megawatts of wind in-service, with more than 40,000 megawatts proposed and under study. A challenge comes in the fact that the organization projected its peak demand for 2009 would be 50,000 megawatts.

Additional challenges to transmission infrastructure include those from property owners and environmental groups as to how wind energy farms can coexist with agriculture activities and wildlife.

And, don't forget the fact that the wind blows intermittently — it may be stronger on one wind farm, but not another. Or the wind may blow more strongly at night than during the day, when the energy demand would be the greatest.

To counter such challenges, NorthWestern Energy is constructing the Mill Creek generation facility, a gas-fired generation plant, located west of Butte, Mont., which will be primarily used as a regulating source so that when the wind doesn't blow, “we have something to take its place,” Edwards says.

The Present

The wind energy generation industry has grown at a rate of 25 percent to 30 percent per year for the last 10 years, McCallum notes. In 2009, as of the third quarter, more than 5,800 megawatts of wind power capacity had been installed in the United States, bringing the total installed capacity to more than 31,000 megawatts, according to the third quarter market report released in October by the American Wind Energy Association. More than 5,000 megawatts are under construction, scheduled for completion this year or next year. While the wind energy sector can sometimes be viewed as a relatively new industry, it is an advanced and sophisticated industry, which has been driven by European companies. In America, GE's Greenville, S.C., operation has been underway with manufacturing nacelles for 10 years to 15 years, McCallum notes. In fact, GE is the largest supplier of nacelles in the country, even though its market share is falling, which demonstrates the growth of the industry because the company has seen an increase in sales every year.

With industry growth, comes the increases in the size of the components required to generate the energy. And, with European and more recently Chinese firms interested in the U.S. marketplace, sites located outside of traditional wind energy markets have begun emerging. Traditionally, the Midwest has been a leading destination because the region has the country's greatest wind energy potential so most manufacturers have located close to where the final wind farms will be set up.

However, a different type of wind energy turbines are taking root in densely populated regions. The concept involves setting up small-scale wind turbines (10-feet-to-12 feet high) on the top of tall buildings, five stories high or more, which directly feed power to the buildings, whereas traditional wind turbines are designed to generate power to sell back to the grid, says Ken Flood, commissioner of planning and economic development, Columbia County, N.Y. He is also the executive director of the Columbia Economic Development Corp.

Columbia County is located two hours from New York City, “and there is no other place in the country that has more tall buildings than New York City,” Flood says. This proximity, along with the risk taking local economic development officials are willing to take in promising ideas, was attractive to AeroCity Windpower. “We have provided important capital at the start of this business in exchange for when it starts manufacturing in a couple of years that it locates in our county,” Flood says. AeroCity is finishing its design for the prototype wind turbines with the assistance of a $1 million grant awarded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

AeroCity's turbines feature cylinder shaped blades that allow for continuous movement. The company is collaborating with architects in regard to designing buildings that will accelerate the wind over them. “The benefit is that in low wind currents, if the design of the building accelerates the wind over it, it will power these wind turbines,” Flood says. In other activities, AeroCity has developed an inexpensive gauge to measure whether a tall building has the necessary wind conditions required to benefit from the installation of rooftop turbines.

Where Wind Energy Is Headed

As the wind energy generation industry expands, opportunities open up for areas that don't have wind farms. “Supplier parts, such as bearings and gears, don't have to be located in the Midwest,” McCallum says. “That is what is neat about wind energy. Just about any state can benefit from a piece of this, not all of it, but a part of it.”

And it is important that the supplier base for wind energy activities ramps up quickly to support the growth of OEMs. “One of the bottlenecks in the industry, in regard to OEMs, is with the bearings, gear boxes and the machining that is required,” McCallum says. “We can't seem to get them manufactured fast enough. Fifty percent to 60 percent of the components are being imported, which creates a large opportunity.”

Auto sector suppliers are making the transition to serve the wind energy industry's needs. However, it has quickly become apparent that the quality standards for the industries are quite different. For example, the parts for wind energy are much larger. While there are opportunities for auto suppliers in the industry, wind energy activities are more akin to what takes place in the aerospace industry, “because if one of these gear boxes blows up, the entire nacelle blows up,” McCallum points out. Aerospace firms are also looking at industry diversity because some defense contract amounts have been lowered.

These opportunities are driving innovation. In regard to the next phase of development for wind energy industry OEMs, a compelling question arises: is there a new way to manufacture wind towers and nacelles? Consider that components are getting larger in order to achieve greater economies of scale. “The 1.6 megawatt units are relatively small by today's standards because they are getting bigger,” McCallum says. This creates a challenge for the industry in that there are size limitations when transporting the components using the highway and rail systems. “Can they be made into subcomponents and assembled at wind farms?” McCallum asks

Another question is: where will the workforce come from? Compared to Europe, where the wind energy industry has existed for several decades, the training for workforce skills development in the United States is relatively new. “That is a challenge — putting up the sheer numbers of employees that are needed with these skills,” McCallum says. “There are a few strong programs, such as in Iowa, Texas and Arkansas. It has not caught on in other areas, but it is going to.”

In Duluth, Minn., the Duluth Seaway Port Authority provides wind energy companies with value-added services, such as hub and nacelle separation. A staff of highly skilled workers is also available to repair and service turbine components. “That is something that very few ports do,” says Adolph Ojard, executive director of the authority. “They are available year-round to perform work, and several have been trained by manufacturers to perform certain duties.”

This port authority owns the Clure Public Marine Terminal. Lake Superior Warehousing Co. Inc. serves as the terminal operator. The terminal is open to international navigation nine months out of the year. Its geographical location offers market access to wind farm developments in locations as far away as western Montana, as far south as Oklahoma, east into Illinois, and north into Canada, Ojard notes. International wind turbine manufacturers use the port for shipments, including Siemens Energy, Vestas Wind Systems A/S, GE, Gamesa Technology Corp., and Acciona Energy, among others.

“One of the biggest challenges wind turbine shippers have is finding enough lay down area and storage at a port,” Ojard says “We are fortunate to have more than 50 acres of lay down area, which is both truck and rail served.” What's more, the Duluth Seaway Port Authority has a cooperative relationship with Minnesota DOT, which allows for an expedited distribution of wind turbine components located on port property.

The ability to turn wind energy generation projects around quickly is important to this growing industry, where the domestic market is ripe for investments. The key to establishing thriving operations will be the ability to move this renewable energy on transmission lines that are prepared to handle the load. The required infrastructure or lack thereof, will dictate how the sector grows.

For complete details about the organizations featured in this article, visit:

Adams County (Wash.), www.co.adams.wa.us

American Wind Energy Association, www.awea.org

Duluth (Minn.) Seaway Port Authority, www.duluthport.com

Columbia (N.Y.) Hudson Partnership., www.chpartnership.com

McCallum Sweeney Consulting, Inc., www.mccallumsweeney.com

NorthWestern Energy, www.northwesternenergy.com

Southwest Power Pool, www.spp.org