About the Wind Energy Center

Searsburg, Vermont Wind Farm	Wind Energy Center Team, October, 2009 (for larger view, click here)	Graduate Researcher Installing Anemometry	Deploying Wind Resource Instruments at Bishop & Clerks Island, MA

The Wind Energy Center (WEC, formerly the Renewable Energy Research Laboratory) is a unique program that has distinguished the University of Massachusetts as the national leader in wind energy education, academic research, and service to government and industry.

Wind energy research and development began here in 1972 with the award of a National Science Foundation grant that led to the construction of a 25 kW wind turbine on campus. At the time, this turbine was one of the largest operating wind turbines in the United States and one of the first modern turbine designs in the world.

The Wind Furnace 1 is currently being prepared for permanent display in the Smithsonian Institute. The project which researched, designed, built, and operated the Wind Furnace 1 led to the creation of the Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, the first wind energy research and education program in the United States. [Read more]

Scholarship Fund Support wind engineering students through the William Heronemus Scholarship Fund (Using the pull-down menu under "Gift Allocation" select "College of Engineering" and then "William Heronemus Scholarship Fund.")

Learn more

• Study Here
• Wind Energy Center Team
• Learn about our Research
• Wind Energy Center Recognition
• Wind Energy Center History
• Wind Energy Center Alumni
• Partnering with the Wind Energy Center
• Support Wind Energy Education and Research