DOE/EA-1761: Final Environmental Assessment

Analyzes the Wind Turbine Drivetrain Test Facility at Building 69 at the Charleston Navel Complex.

Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance

September 2, 2010

Clemson University Wind Turbine Testing; Charleston, South Carolina

DOE issued final DOE/EA-1761, which analyzed the potential environmental impacts of providing federal funding to Clemson University to design, permit, and construct a Wind Turbine Drivetrain Test Facility at Building 69 within the Charleston Navel Complex for the commercial testing of drivetrains, generators, and nacelles for the wind power industry. The proposal included renovating Building 69, installing support equipment, and constructing a spur to an existing rail line.

For more information, see Clemson University Wind Turbine Testing.

  • Final Environmental Assessment For The Clemson University Wind Turbine Drivetrain Test Facility, DOE/EA-1761 (September 2010) (3.06 MB)
    Clemson University is proposing to construct and operate a Wind Turbine Drivetrain Test Facility (DTTF) at the Clemson University Research Institute in North Charleston, South Carolina. This project would promote industry/government/university collaboration in research and workforce education and would be manned with a dedicated workforce to service industry needs with additional services offered by established local industries as needed by customers.
    The proposed wind turbine test facility would be built on the Charleston Naval Complex (CNC), on a brownfield site formerly owned by the U.S. Navy. The facility would consist of two test rigs equipped with independent drive systems. Each test rig would be capable of testing a range of wind turbine drivetrains, up to a 15-megawatt (MW) unit on Rig #1 and up a 7.5-MW unit on Rig #2. Rig #1 would have the capability to apply loads to the main shaft of the specimen drive-train, replicating forces and moments along three axes thereby simulating actual blade forces experienced in the field