Clemson Restoration Institute lands offshore wind turbine testing lab

In what some are describing as a Boeing-sized economic development prize, the U.S. Energy Department said Monday that a site on the old Navy base would be the world’s first test-bed for large offshore wind turbines.

A consortium led by Clemson University’s Restoration Institute beat proposals and aggressive lobbying efforts by Pennsylvania, Michigan and several other states to land a $45 million grant to jump-start the project.

“Wind power holds tremendous potential to help create new jobs and reduce carbon pollution,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement announcing the grant. “We are at the beginning of a new Industrial Revolution when it comes to clean energy and projects like these will help us get there faster.”

The new lab will be located in a large vacant industrial building at the center of the former Navy base, not far from where conservators are restoring the Confederate submarine Hunley. The facility will be operated as a non-profit and provide state-of-the-art testing to interested wind manufacturers.

The $45 million federal grant is part of a $98 million proposal organized by Clemson. Other contributors include the Charleston Naval Complex Redevelopment Authority, which pledged $6 million, Renk Labeco, the State Ports Authority, Department of Commerce and S.C. Public Railways Commission.

While the lab itself will create 800 to 900 direct and indirect jobs, lawmakers said its most significant impact will be as a jobs magnet.

“This is of tremendous significance to our state,” said state Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley County, one of several lawmakers who helped Clemson put the proposal together.

Grooms said the Energy Department projects that the United States likely will create an offshore wind industry. “Anyone who develops a wind turbine cluster could be the beneficiary of 26,000 jobs, and we are better suited than any other state.”

South Carolina already has the makings of a cluster, he said. General Electric has a massive turbine manufacturing plant near Greenville, and several bearings company and other suppliers have set up shop nearby. Meanwhile, the old Navy base is an ideal place for manufacturers to assemble the turbines, Grooms said. The turbines of the future may become so large that companies will have to manufacture them at a waterfront site and load them by barge, he said.

State Sen. Paul Campbell, R-Goose Creek, also worked on the deal and noted that the same group of lawmakers, including senators Glenn McConnell and Hugh Leatherman, also put together the Boeing deal. “The Boeing announcement is the biggest we’ve made, but this is frosting on the cake,” he said.

Reach Tony Bartelme at 937-5554 or tbartelme@postandcourier.com.