In December 2012, the U.S. Department of Energy announced investments in seven offshore wind projects including the GoWind project which will be led by the Texas A&M Energy Institute's Wind Energy Center.  GoWind includes multiple university and industry partners.  This is the first in a series about those partners and how their unique technologies, knowledge and abilities will contribute to the ultimate success of the GoWind project. 

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi's Conrad Blucher Institute (CBI) manages one of the largest and densest coastal ocean observation networks in the nation. The backbone of the network is composed of the 30 stations of the Texas Coastal Ocean Observation Network or TCOON. The stations collect scientific data from South Padre Island to the Texas-Louisiana border on the Sabine River. All stations measure water levels with most stations collecting wind data, atmospheric pressure, and air and water temperature.

All TCOON data are communicated in real-time using multiple data communication methods such as internet protocol devices and satellite transmitters. TCOON stations are designed to meet the rigid scientific guidelines of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which allows TCOON data to establish tidal datums admissible in court. Tidal datums are used in identification and defense of littoral boundaries, or legal boundaries, along the seashore separating privately owned land from state owned, submerged land. Moreover, detailed records provide an audit trail of all the steps used in the collection and production of data products emanating from TCOON, assuring the accuracy and reliability of these products.

Primary TCOON sponsors and collaborators include the Texas General Land Office, the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Texas Water Development Board and NOAA. Several stations were recently installed to augment the network including two Sentinels of the Coast stations designed to sustain the impact of a category 4 hurricane. Funding was also recently secured to install four additional Sentinels of the Coast to collect oceanic and atmospheric information near shore for South Padre Island, Port Aransas, Port O'Connor and Freeport.

In addition to TCOON, CBI manages stations from the NOAA National Water Level Observation Network (NWLON), NOAA PORTS for the ports of Houston/Galveston and Sabine-Neches and other stations for local state and federal entities for a total of over 80 active stations. Some stations measure only water quality or atmospheric conditions. Data from TCOON stations are collected in near real-time and provided to users via the CBI TCOON web interface, a dial-in phone system known as WindInfo (361-992-WIND (9463)), or via Facebook and Twitter feeds. The near real-time nature of the data combined with sensor and communication redundancy make the information invaluable to public officials charged with hurricane preparedness, meteorologists providing storm forecasts, and research scientists monitoring the environmentally sensitive bays and estuaries along the Gulf of Mexico in Texas.

Other uses include input for water level, storm surge, and circulation models. The data are also accessible to the general public and are frequently accessed by recreational and commercial users such as wind surfers, sailors, anglers, and surfers. The network collects wind data at 31 locations and some stations have more than 20-year records. The data provide valuable information to study coastal winds and assess potential wind resources along the Texas coast.

CBI has previously managed offshore monitoring stations and is about to install a new station offshore of South Padre Island as part of the GoWind consortium led by Baryonyx Corporation and the Texas A&M Energy Institute's Wind Energy Center. The Consortium includes industry partners Siemens AG, Keppel-Amfels and Offshore Design Engineering as well as other university participants. The station will collect atmospheric and oceanic information and the data will be combined with onshore measurements, numerical weather prediction outputs and other available data to better characterize the near shore wind resources and oceanic conditions. A near-term goal of the project is to install a three-turbine, 18MW, wind farm.

To take advantage of the large feeds of real-time data, CBI has developed several real-time prediction models to support navigation, emergency management and other coastal users. Observational data is augmented with the regularly updated output from a large numerical weather prediction model (NAM) and typically fed into computationally efficient artificial intelligence models to provide predictions of water levels, water temperatures, currents, etc.

Related Web links:

CBI:  http://cbi.tamucc.edu/

TCOON: http://cbi.tamucc.edu/TCOON/ 

Stations with Wind Measurements: http://lighthouse.tamucc.edu/stnlist/:tcoon:wsd

Operational Models:  http://cbi.tamucc.edu/Forecasts/

In 2011, Dr. Steve Holditch, former Director of EI, served on the Natural Gas Subcommittee of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board convened by U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. The subcommittee was charged with the task of making recommendations to improve the safety and environmental performance of natural gas hydraulic fracturing from shale formations.

Fast forward to 2013 and the debate over hydraulic fracturing continues. A recent article in Legal Newsline discussed the debate as a central energy policy issue and what the Obama administration plans to do about it. The article's writer contacted Dr. Holditch for his opinion as a former member of the subcommittee as well as a renowned expert on the topic of hydraulic fracturing. Following is an excerpt from that article:

Stephen Holditch, the former head of the Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University, served on the Natural Gas Subcommittee of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board that released recommendations for improving the safety and environmental performance of fracking in November 2011.

From his perspective, fracking has evolved into a proven and profitable technique. He dismisses fears that it pollutes groundwater, saying that has never happened in more than 50 years. He does admit that in general, shale gas development faces challenges over diesel and air emissions, and excessive truck traffic in neighborhoods and towns.

"The argument that shale gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing is going to pollute the aquifers is totally without merit," Holditch said. "I've been in some public meetings, and it was clear that the people who were holding up the anti-fracturing signs didn't know what they were talking about. They were actually just pro-wind, pro-solar and anti-oil and gas."

He said the subcommittee worked to equally advance the benefits of a large, low-cost energy supply and encourage the industry to become more responsible.

"The report we did at the Department of Energy clearly states, here are some issues that the oil and gas industry needs to get right and do correctly to maintain their license to operate and develop shale gas reservoirs," Holditch said.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

With a generous donation of $40,000 from ConocoPhillips, the Energy Institute awarded eight fellowships to support outstanding graduate students doing energy research.  Over 40 applicants from 16 departments were nominated for this competitive award.  The award recipients are known as "Energy Institute Fellows."

Each month, a Fellow will be featured in the highlights section of News Briefs.  This month's featured Fellow is Brian Owens, a PhD student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering.

Brian's research project is entitled "Aeroelastic Modeling of Large Offshore Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines."  For a brief abstract of Brian's research, click here.  

To see the complete listing of EI Fellows, visit our web site at http://energy.tamu.edu.

You keep hearing about all of the energy research going on around Texas A&M University but do you know who is doing the research? That information, and more, can be found on the Energy Institute's web site at our new web address energy.tamu.edu.

Currently, there are nearly 150 faculty researchers listed by research area - Bioenergy, Electric Power, Energy Efficiency, Geothermal, Nuclear, Oil & Gas, Solar and Wind. Clicking on the desired research area will take you to a page specific to that area. Once there, click on the "Faculty Expertise" tab which will direct you to a listing of all of the faculty members doing research in that area and their areas of expertise.

If you are involved in energy research at Texas A&M University and are not listed on the EI web site and would like to be, please contact Robyn Pearson at rlpearson@tamu.edu.