Gov. Bill Ritter on Friday morning hailed a partnership between three Colorado universities and three federal laboratories all aimed at studying wind power as an important part of the state’s “21st-century agenda.”
Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory’s Center for Research and Education in Wind “promotes the role of academic institutions in leading the whole country in the conversations about energy,” said Ritter.
Ritter’s remarks kicked off the inaugural symposium for CREW, which was formed this year to work with private companies and industry to make wind power less costly and more reliable and efficient.
CREW involves CU-Boulder, Colorado State University, the Colorado School of Mines and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Natural Renewable Energy Laboratory. CREW also offers its private members the research strengths of the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The all-day symposium included an overview of the research thrusts of the new center, including turbine modeling, electrical systems and grid modeling, control systems to reduce energy costs, turbine testing and certification, and environmental sensing integration and evaluation.
CREW will be help bring the state’s top scientific minds together to harness Earth’s resources — including the wind — to break the fossil-fuel habit, said Steve Castillo, vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty at the School of Mines.
“The alternatives we are looking for are plentiful and surround us,” Castillo said. “The challenges are large, but the minds from three universities are up to the task.”
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
