Coastal Carolina University, in partnership with Clemson University and Iowa State University, will be hosting an all-day workshop in Charleston, S.C., on Sept. 20 that will focus on the recently identified potential for onshore wind energy production in South Carolina.

The workshop, titled "Land-based Wind Power Potential in the Southeast U.S.," is intended to familiarize state leadership, stakeholders, and current and potential industry officials and decision makers with onshore wind power potential and educate them on the possibilities for wind energy production in the coastal region.

The Southeastern United States is the last region of the country to develop significant wind energy production, according to Paul Gayes, the director of the Burroughs & Chapin Center for Marine Wetlands Studies at CCU and the CCU organizer of the workshop. New technology developed at Iowa State University and recent measurements at the elevations where future wind turbines will operate in S.C. makes it possible and plausible to build taller towers on site that can access better resources.

"It's an emerging industry in the region, and with new technology, now this is viable here in the southeast," said Gayes. "So this workshop will look at what that does mean and how might this look in the future? Wind energy production can be broadly beneficial, it brings high-paying jobs and has wide economic effects."

Topics at the workshop will include the concept of tall wind, low-speed wind technologies, Southeast wind power potential, land-based versus offshore wind, workforce training education, and more. Facilitators include Sri Sritharan from Iowa State, Ramtin Hadidi from Clemson University, Kirk Morgan from Barr Engineering, and more. The workshop will also include a tour of the wind turbine drive train facility at the Energy Innovation Center.