U. Houston’s Energy Research Park will be the site of a new testing facility that University researchers will build after being awarded a $2.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The National Wind Energy Center (NWEC), which will develop and test composite materials and components for large offshore wind turbines, is likely to help establish the University as a national leader in offshore wind technology.

“The new testing facility will not only help propel this region to the forefront of U.S. offshore wind development, but it will also help UH in becoming ‘The Energy University,’” UH Cullen College of Engineering Dean Joseph Tedesco said in a press release.

“Gaining a fuller understanding of the challenges associated with offshore wind energy technology is critical if we are to move into a clean energy future.”

Plans are for the facility and its researchers to partner with colleagues from the college as well as industry officials and tackle the challenges facing the developing alternative energy.

One of the facility’s primary goals will be to develop materials that will double the life expectancy of current offshore wind equipment.

Su Su Wang, a professor of mechanical engineering, will serve as the center’s director. Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering Ray Flumerfelt will serve as associate director. Both, along with senior research scientist Daniel Davis, are founding members of NWEC.