Bigger than BOEING Charleston, SC Leads US Energy Research

Clemson University has  landed almost $100 million to the lead the way in alternative energy research.   An inside look at the concept is provided by local TV station. The U.S. Department of Energy said it could be bigger, in terms of job creation. The proposal writers who worked to secure the research grant — the largest in the university’s 120-year history — quoted the Energy Department as saying 10,000 to 20,000 jobs related to the development of wind energy could be in the state’s future over 20 years.

“This positions Clemson and South Carolina to become national leaders in the development of wind energy and to benefit from the green economy,” Barker said during a conference call on the announcement.

Clemson will test the next generation of wind turbines and drive trains at the Clemson University Restoration Institute’s research campus on the old Navy base, which includes the Warren Lasch Conservation Center, where the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is being preserved.

The Restoration Institute and its partners on the proposal and project include the S.C. Commerce Department, the S.C. State Ports Authority, Charleston Naval Complex Redevelopment Authority and S.C. Public Railways. Private partners include Renk AG, a manufacturer of special gears, components of propulsion technology and test systems; Tony Bakker, founder of Daniel Island-based Blackbaud and majority owner of the Charleston Battery soccer team; and James Meadors, head of Meadors Construction and chairman of the Charleston Green Committee. Other organizations also will be involved as the project progresses, including the Savannah River National Laboratory, which will handle the data processing.

The project has received a $45 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. That money will be combined with $53 million in matching funding and in-kind work and donations for the construction and operation of the testing facility.

The move is expected to start creating jobs in January, beginning with hundreds of construction jobs. Researchers and engineers from Clemson said it would position the nation’s most important site for wind energy research and development on Charleston’s waterfront.