After trying very hard to complete the V-LIM turbine with local talent I am giving up on Coos Bay for the time being and taking the components to Portland for final assembly. Once complete we will bring it back to Coos County for testing.

Recent bad experiences with some local ‘business persons’ and local workers, the character of whom seem to be more prevalent than not, have left a very bad taste in my mouth for ever establishing a manufacturing facility in Coos County. Rogue River Wind, Ltd, will see the Western Oregon Wind project through for the school kids and then leave Coos County to the ‘manly men’ who think nothing of trying to pick the pockets of a hard working companies and the public that lets it happen.

Not that all experiences have been bad, there are good companies in Coos County like Koontz Machine Shop in Coos Bay and CAPCO powder coating in Coquille, (well worth the drive from North Bend), even the International Port of Coos Bay has been awesome, but the three bad experiences are soooo bad that I just don’t want to do business here anymore. Luckily for me, I don’t have to.

This has been a harried and hectic week for Rogue River Wind, what with moving the prototype fabrication to our new location and keeping abreast of the progress of the Western Oregon Wind project. Unofficial reports from Washington indicate that the WOW project has crossed another hurdle and is moving forward in the Senate, however, I state this with some trepidation as I have not been able to get ‘official’ confirmation before we go to press.
Other funding opportunities for WOW, which will provide an additional $2 million added revenue for local school districts per year, are being explored at the State level as we speak. The outlook is still good for funding in this upcoming fiscal budget cycle but it will be weeks before I will be able to report anything definitive.

It is not for lack of effort, however, as this project and the myriad technical and financial and regulatory mazes a project of this scope must go through are very time consuming. The benefits of investing in our children, however, make the effort and the expense well worth it.

Thank you to everyone that has exerted so much effort to help us get this far in the process and who have offered to facilitate the long list of bureaucratic steps looming ahead of us. The plan is to put a website chronicling this project from start to finish and encourage suggestions, feedback and provide a list of tasks people may volunteer to do, if they have the time and ability. The address will be published when the site is available.

More than 200 request totalling $730M were submitted and DeFazio submitted 62 of those or $71M less than 10% to the House Appropriations Committee. The WOW project was one of those selected and it is very exciting to be moving forward. Here is a list of the Final Public Disclosure Memo

From Coos County, the International Port of Coos Bay, SCINT and Coos Historical and Maritime Center are the only requests along with WOW to head to committee.

Please send a big thank you to Congressman Peter DeFazio for supporting our local schools!

So far we are good to go. Congressman DeFazio has agreed to carry our request to committee with the caveat that Energy and Water appropriations are highly competitive and not to get our hopes up. Additionally, he notes the current climate for ‘earmark’ projects like WOW is not good no matter how practical or financially sound they might be. His office received $800M of appropriation requests for the 4th district so I was quick to point out the $2M we are seeking is a mere pittance in the grand scheme of things.

Best picture I could put up at the moment, my eyes closed and all… hard to believe I am actually shorter than Peter DeFazio.

Those of us working to bring this project to fruition are choosing to stay optimistic despite DeFazio’s pessimism for success and will be drafting talking points for his office and developing a letter writing campaign for citizens and civic leaders to put some pressure on the committee. These will be posted here and distributed throughout Coos County because public pressure is needed now to help replace O&C monies with projects like WOW.

This week I will be in Washington, DC working for a federal appropriation that will help fund a 5MW distributed energy smart/micro-grid that can generate additional revenue for some of our local school districts. The project is called WOW (Western Oregon Wind).

The WOW request is through the Energy and Water Subcommittee of the House Appropriations a very competitive arena. Nevertheless, after meeting with the Governor’s office last week and speaking with both Oregon and US Department of Energy officials it is clear our proposal is being well received.
Smart grid software experts from around the world are already tackling the technological hurdles even though the optimum locations in Coos County for the power generators have not yet been determined. The more daunting challenges deal with structuring the project to best take advantage of State and Federal incentives in order to finance the grid. Thank goodness for smart lawyers and pedantic accountants who delight in weighing these options and figuring these things out.

The WOW will be a model system that can be duplicated and ported to other areas and has already received a lot of interest from budget strapped California and Texas. Work will continue in my absence to complete the stator, wind coils, set the rectifiers and busses and align the magnets on the V-LIM rotor. PSU has ordered anemometers and sensors and motors and circuit boards to enable the data collection required to certify the V-LIM and connect it to the grid.
Looking forward to the development of this micro-grid as the prototype nears completion it is clear the hard work is not behind us but in front of us. Thankfully the weather in DC has always been kind to me and forecasts look good for this trip as well.

In light of the recent changes occurring at the Coquille Police Department it is important to thank Chief Dannels for his professionalism and high standards during these awkward times and I for one am so relieved and grateful we have someone of his caliber working for Coquille. Also, I want to personally thank Dian Courtright for all the hard work she put in on behalf of all of us to help bring these positive changes to our police department.