Guest Expert: Walter Musial

Walter Musial, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Date of Webinar: December 19, 2011, 8:00pm EST

Topic: Renewable Energy

Title: Opportunities and Challenges of Offshore Wind Energy

Guest Expert Bio: Walter Musial has worked at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) since August 1988 serving in many roles over the years. Walt currently leads the offshore wind energy research activities at NREL. He also serves as the technical administrator for the U.S. technical advisory group to the International Electro-technical Commission’s standards committee on marine renewable energy.
In 1989 he initiated the development of NREL’s structural test facilities, which have tested more than 100 wind turbine blades. He expanded the facilities to keep up with the rapid growth in wind turbine size, including the conceptual design and implementation of the Industrial User Facility in 1996. The structural test facilities are the only facilities outside of Europe with these capabilities. Walt also was responsible for the design and implementation of the dynamometer test facility that was commissioned in 1999. This facility was the first one in the world capable of testing full-scale wind turbine drivetrains.
Walt provides technical support to NREL’s industry partners and is a founding member of the American Gear Manufacturers Association committee to develop design standards for wind turbine gearboxes. He began at NREL as test engineer on the unsteady aerodynamics experiment which has become the landmark research reference for understanding wind turbine performance in stalled conditions. Walt began has career in the 1980′s working as a field test engineer in the commercial wind energy industry in California working for ESI Inc. and U.S. Windpower. His career interests were solidified in 1979 when he began studying renewable energy engineering at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering.

Mr. Musial’s Presentation:

Opportunities and Challenges of Offshore Wind Energy (.pdf)

Watch the Webinar! (.wmv)

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