1.
TRACKING SHOT Wind turbines near Washington.
0.18

2.
GV Wind turbines operating.
0.29

3.
CU PULL BACK SV Rotating arms of turbine.
0.38

4.
AERIAL VIEW Turbines on project site.
0.44

5.
GV Wind turbine, plains in background.
0.49

6.
GV ZOOM IN Hydro-electric dam.
0.58

7.
SV Water behind dam.
1.04

8.
CU Graph read-out, engineer studying graphs.
1.14

9.
GV Countryside with turbine arm shadow moving.
1.17

10.
SV Cows, PULL BACK GV wind turbine operating.
1.28

11.
SV Turbine arm rotating, PULL BACK GV turbine arms rotating. (3 SHOTS)
1.55

12.
TRACKING SHOT Wind turbine.
2.04

13.
GV Wind machine on Hawaiian island of Oahu. (2 SHOTS)
2.18

14.
TILT UP CU Wind machine on island, GV similar unit on Block Island.
2.26

15.
CU PULL BACK GV Turbines back at Washington site. (2 SHOTS)
2.52


SPEECH (TRANSCRIPT)



NASA REPORTER: "Since May, residents of the Pacific northwest have been getting some of their electricity from an old power source, gathered here at Goodnow Hills, Washington, by the largest wind turbines in the world. Three hundred and fifty tall with blades the length of a football field, the three computer-controlled turbines represent the world's first wind farm - a cluster of wind generators working together to act as a single power source. They were built as part of the Department of Energy's Federal Wind Energy Programme. Managed by the NASA Lewis Research Centre, they're providing seven and a half million watts of electricity to the Bonneville Power Administration, enough to power two, to three thousand of the area's average homes. More than half of the Pacific northwest's electricity is generated by hydro-electric dams, but rivers don't run endlessly and even that resource is being stretched to its limit. For the next two years, engineers will be studying the wind farm to see how the turbines affect one another and how they interact with the utility grid. It will also be watching the impact on the environment, and on local livestock. What they learn will be used in the planning of future, larger wind farms. Although today wind energy costs considerably more than hydro-electric, coal or nuclear power, engineers believe that mass production of these and other wind turbine models could substantially lower its price. By the time the hundredth unit is completed, wind energy could cost only four and a half cents a kilowatt hour, a price competitive with now standard energy forms. Since 1973 the government has been testing the compatibility of large-scale wind turbines with utility power grids.



"This machine on the Hawaiian island of Oahu can provide up to 200 kilowatts of power while saving fuel for the island's conventional generators. Similar machines have been built and tested in Puerto Rico, in Mexico, and on Block Island, Rhode Island. For almost a century the wind had blown, but almost unused. Now, this age-old power source which once ran out of mills, may be used in wind farms twenty, thirty even forty turbines, once again helping us meet our continuing energy needs."





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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: INTRODUCTION: In the United States, scientists and engineers are continually searching for ways of securing future energy sources for every-hungry cities. One of the latest projects involves a power source known to man for many centuries - the wind. This report on attempts to find a cheap way of converting wind power to electricity from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.