Rogue River Wind, Ltd moved the V-LIM wind generator  to a new location with 12’ rollup door in order to do the  final assembly. We have three full time workers now, four  if you add me, winding coils, rolling copper and buffing,  drilling, tweaking, measuring and calibrating.

We also have a four-member capstone team at Portland  State University working out the motor control circuitry and  data collection sensors and parameters. Everyone is working  feverishly now to make of for time lost awaiting one  part delayed by, of all things, weather.  The WOW (Western Oregon Wind) Project is making its  way through the House subcommittee on Energy and Water  and has garnered a lot of support around the state. There  are still hurdles to cross before we secure federal funding  for the 40% cost of WOW but thus far we are clearing  every one.  The smart/micro-grid proposed in the WOW project has  some very high-powered technical brains working in the  background to help make WOW a reality and provide alternative  funding for our local schools.

We have engineers in  Portugal and Washington State along with experts in  Brussels and Virginia all contributing to this unique concept.  Coos County is blessed to have such abundant renewable  resources and so many willing and capable contributors to  bring a wide scale renewable energy model to fruition here  on the coast. Things are beyond busy for me right now  hence the brevity of this week’s column but I can sure the  excitement for those of us working on this project is reaching  a fever pitch.  Brian McAndrew, a bright young journalism student  from the University of Oregon, interviewed me today. We  talked about the LIM and the WOW project and how important  it is to invest in our youth as well as our infrastructure.

For this reason, once again, I urge everyone to write or call  Congressman Peter DeFazio and thank him for carrying the  WOW project to committee. His contact information locally  is  Congressman DeFazio  125 Central, Suite 350  Coos Bay, OR 97420  Phone: (541) 269-2609