The following is a list of participating judges in the U.S. Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition 2019.
Project Development Judges
Toby Butterfield
Toby Butterfield is a senior development project manager who has been with EDPR since 2013. He has over eight years of renewable energy experience, with a background in engineering and wind resource assessment. Toby has led the successful permitting of four solar gardens in Minnesota across three jurisdictions and contributed to successful construction of the 200-MW Rising Tree Wind Farm in California. He currently manages the development of greenfield wind and solar projects in the Western Interconnection, including the 104-MW Crossing Trails Wind Farm to be constructed in Eastern Colorado in 2020.
Kate Vann
Kate Vann is a project finance associate at Renewable Energy System Americas Inc. (RES) in Broomfield, Colorado. At RES, Kate leads the financial analysis, economic evaluation, and risk analysis of wind, solar, and storage projects in the United States and Canada. In conjunction with the origination and development teams, Kate evaluates power offtake alternatives and assists in the preparation of power purchase agreement bids.
Design Judges
Charles Newcomb
Charles Newcomb’s experience has been developed over more than two decades in the wind energy sector, with 12 of those years spent at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where he conducted performance and application tests of wind turbines, supported governmental agencies, and managed DOE’s Wind and Water Power Deployment group. Newcomb now serves as product manager for the Universal mCloud Corporation providing technical direction and guidance for the AssetCare system and serves on the national Wind for Schools Board of Directors.
Tim Olsen
Tim Olsen has directed Advanced Energy Systems LLC for 25 years, providing engineering and project management consulting for solar, wind, and hydro energy project development worldwide, plus wind turbine design, solar hybrid system engineering and installation, energy efficiency design, and stakeholder mediation. Clients range from the Mercury Cafe to GE Energy, from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to factories in Central America. Sample projects include a 1.2- MW solar system for St. Vrain Valley School District, the 99-MW Duke Energy windfarm near Casper, WY, an 80-kW solar/battery system for Presidio Texas Wastewater Treatment Plant, and the original Zond Z40 wind turbine design through evolution to the GE Wind 1.5xle. Tim’s degrees include a BSME from University of Colorado Boulder, an MSME from Virginia Tech, and he is active with many civic organizations, including WorldDenver (YP Board), Colorado Renewable Energy Society (2006 president), and Engineers Without Borders (2005 co-chair). His certifications include Colorado professional engineer, NABCEP wind and solar design and installation, and professional member mediator with the Mediation Association of Colorado.
Testing Judges
Heidi Tinnesand
Heidi Tinnesand joined the Market Acceleration and Deployment group at NREL in 2015. At NREL, Heidi is focused on conducting wind and water resource assessments, advancing distributed wind, and furthering public adoption of wind power through outreach, education and workforce development. Prior to joining NREL, Heidi worked for Vestas Americas and DNV GL. Her work included site suitability analysis using complex loads and terrain analysis for prospective wind farm projects, design and installation of data acquisition systems, and power performance testing of installed wind turbines.
Jason Roadman
Jason has been a test engineer at the Flatirons Campus since March of 2011. His experience includes field and dynamometer testing of large and small wind turbines, validation of eagle detection systems using trained raptors, metrology, storm chasing, and wind tunnel testing of atmospheric turbulence. He is also an integral member of the team that organizes the Department of Energy's Collegiate Wind Competition, acting as head rules judge as well as testing judge during the wind tunnel tests of students' turbines. Jason is the Flatiron Campus’ lead point of contact for unmanned aircraft research and sits on NREL’s unmanned aircraft steering committee. He has a B.S. in aerospace engineering from Virginia Tech and an M.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Lee Jay Fingersh
Lee Jay joined NREL in 1993. For seven years, he was the test engineer on the Unsteady Aerodynamics Experiment turbine, which culminated in the NASA Ames wind tunnel test. Lee has worked on the design and controls for the variable-speed test bed and has administered many experiments. In addition, Lee was an integral part of the team that designed the 2.5-MW dynamometer currently in use at the Flatirons Campus. Lee has written papers on wind, hydrogen, and battery integration. He has worked on the Controls Advanced Research Turbines (CART), including writing the control systems specifications and developing the three-bladed CART turbine. Lee has supported many industry projects including blade tests, dynamometer tests, and full-system developments for GE, the Wind Turbine Company, Clipper, Southwest Windpower, and Windward. Most recently, Lee has served as the head judge for the Collegiate Wind Competition.