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President: Karen Conover
Specialty:Consulting for renewable energy systems
Year founded: 1994
Largest current project: U.S. Department of Energy Turbine Verification Program.
Considering this region's reputation for affordable hydroelectric power, it's hard to imagine a need for tapping into wind energy.
But at Global Energy Concepts, the idea of wind turbines providing power to the region is not far-fetched. So-called wind farms strategically placed on the Olympic Peninsula or in the Cascade Mountains could reduce the region's reliance on hydroelectric.
"They could easily plug into the network, and it would be a nice complementary resource to hydroelectric power," said Heather Rhoads, Global Energy's project manager. Based in Kirkland, Global Energy is an engineering and management consulting firm specializing in analysis, performance, economics and operation of renewable energy systems. The company is recognized as an international leader in wind energy technology, but has also conducted technical studies involving solar, co-generational, hydroelectric, geothermal, biomass and ocean technologies, serving utility-scale and small applications.
Only a few years ago, Rhoads said the company was devoting a majority of its time to feasibility studies for large-scale wind turbine projects. Now their clients are actually developing the projects and in need of consulting assistance for operation and maintenance, she said.
Global Energy provides consulting services to a broad spectrum of clients across the U.S. and abroad, including all sectors of the domestic and international energy industry, from developers to the U.S. Department of Energy.
"We're certainly seeing a lot of growth in the wind industry throughout the U.S., particularly in the Midwest, throughout the Dakotas, Texas, Iowa and Minnesota. "We're seeing a lot of interest in wind turbines for remote projects or large customers who have a decent load to support commercial-scale turbines."
Though there is a wind turbine project in Oregon and the city of Seattle has begun looking into the resource, she said a great deal of interest comes from the Midwest, where strong winds translate to clean power.
"Our company has really stayed up to speed with the new technology," she said. "We provide a lot of ongoing assistance for the day-to-day operations of wind farms."