Wind, a renewable energy source that can be harnessed -to generate electricity -using wind -turbines.

-In the fall of 1941, something new had been added to the generating system -of the Vermont Public -Service Corporation.

-Motorists -in central Vermont saw, -from 25 miles away -a giant windmill.

-Its polished, -sunlit blades flashed -on the top of the 2000ft -grandpa's Knob, 12 miles -west of Rutland -and overlooking -the Champlain Valley.

-This was the experimental -Smith Putnam -wind turbine undergoing -its first tests.

-The unit was rated -at 1250 kilowatts -at 1.25MW, -enough to light a town, -and was feeding power -into the utility company's -system, permitting water -to be stored -behind the dams.

-When the wind blew -more than 17mph -for the first time.

-Win had been harnessed -to drive -a synchronous generator, -feeding directly -into the high -line of a utility network.

-In the -book power from the wind, -Vannevar -Bush, who was President -Roosevelt science adviser, -very instrumental -in the Manhattan Project -and dean of engineering at -MIT, said the following.

-In the forward, -he wrote, the great wind turbine out of her mountain proved -that men could -build a practical machine -which would synchronously -generate electricity -in large quantities by means of wind power.

It proved -also that -the cost of electricity -so produced is close to -that of the more -economical -conventional methods, -and hence it proved -at some future time -homes may be illuminated -and factories -may be powered by -this new means.

-My name is David Zito.

I'm a former employee of Central Vermont Public Service -and we're standing -a top grandpa's knob.

-And this was the site -of the first megawatt -connected wind turbine -that was connected -to a utility company -producing electricity -commercially.

-The construction -kicked off in 1940 -and was completed -in October of 1941.

-This is one of the few -remains of that project, -which is an abutment -for one of the legs on the -the wind, wind -turbine tower -and a dedication plaque -which is appropriate -for the commemoration -of this first ever -in this country.

-I was working for Central -Vermont Public Service -when in Central Vermont, -Public Service -was celebrating its 75th -anniversary of operations.

And so what are the notable events in the company's history?

-And that's where I learned -about this turbine, -in the fact that -within the United States, -it was the first turbine -that was connected to the grid to serve, as I recall, an industrial purpose or the like.

-And it was a big moment.

-There had been other -smaller windmills, but -and I remember -there was a series of of -actions and reactions -among the community -and the farmers.

-But I just recall -that was a big moment.

-You know, -there's a lot of pieces of -why I've been successful.

-My business -has been successful -because of what they did, -what they learned, -how they did it.

-It was amazing -amount of stuff they did.

-And and I'm proud -as of Vermonter -that it was in Vermont.

-(upbeat music) It's like the answer's always been.

-All around us and within.

-The earth's been singing, -we just had to tune it in.

-It was somewhere in the wind.

-!Like the sail out on the ocean.

-Like a maple seed that spins.

-Like a kite just waiting -in a child's hand.

-Alive with just one breath.

-One breath of wind.

-One breath of wind.

-For a dream to come alive, -it takes a team, -it takes some time -But it all begins -with a beautiful design -Right place, right time.

-Green Mountain State -led the way again -High on a ridge in Castleton, -out of thin -air, pulling power from the -wind, from the wind.

-!Like the sail out on the ocean, -!like the maple seed that spins, -like the kite just -waiting in a child's hand.

-Alive with just one breath.

-!It's alive with just one breath.

-Alive with Just one breath, -one breath of wind.

-Palmer -Putnam was an avid sailor -on Cape Cod.

-He was also very aware -of rising -electricity prices -that he and others -were facing -in that region.

-Began to ask himself, -why couldn't -we make electricity -from the wind?

-And took the next step, -which was to reach out to the s Morgan Smith Company, one of the largest -producers of hydropower -turbines, -and began to explore -whether you could take one -of those turbines, -modify it -and put it on a tall tower -and make electricity.

-Putnam -realized early on that -he couldn't undertake this -big project by himself, -and so he began -to assemble a team.

-One of the first -members of the team -was a fellow -named Vannevar Bush, -who was dean -of the engineering school -at MIT, -became a science advisor -to President Roosevelt, -and ultimately -was instrumental -in the launch -of the Manhattan Project.

-Putnam talked to Bush.

Bush agreed to become a consultant on the Smith-Putnam -turbine -and Bush helped assemble -the team that resulted -in the final product.

-Beauchamp Smith, president of the S Morgan Smith Company, -became very interested -in the project -as one of the major -producers of hydropower -turbines.

-The company -became project sponsor -and also its facility -in York, -Pennsylvania -became pivotal -in the construction -of the turbine.

-Vannevar Bush referred -Putnam to Thomas S Knight, -a commercial vice president at General Electric -who became quite -interested in the project, -both in terms -of making the generator -and larger -aerodynamics issues.

-Interestingly, Knight -was also a major league -sailor and so appreciated -Putnam's interest -in that sport -and a much larger team.

-They really had -all the skills they needed -to to -make this project work.

-Putnam also put together a -huge list -of industrial partners, -which were critical -to the success -of the final project.

-These included, -in addition -to s Morgan Smith Company, -the Central Vermont -Public Service -Corporation, -which is the host utility.

-American Bridge Company, -which provided blade spars -and blade -erection and tower -construction.

-Wellman engineering.

-Mechanical blade design.

-General -Electric Corporation.

-The synchronous generator.

Woodward governor company.

The Governor that was -needed on the turbine -and Budd Company.

-The blades that were -critical to the project.

-What they first did.

-I got the sense.

-Looking at -what's written about this -project is they actually looked back at what had been developed to date.

-This wasn't the first time -that we made electricity -using wind power, -but it was the first time -that we we did it -at utility scale, -large scale, -and sent it into the grid.

-There have been various -efforts, you know, to -to make electricity -using wind back, -you know, -almost a century.

-And there were a -whole variety of designs -that had been developed -to date.

How you what direction you set the turbine, does the wind blow to the blades and go back from there?

Does it come from the other direction?

-These are called upwind -versus downwind turbines.

-What kind of electric -generator do you use?

What's the structure that holds the generator up in the air?

-So so -they looked at history -and then from there -they said, -let's, let's -see if we can design one.

-That makes a lot of sense.

-And let's -see if we can design one -that's at utility scale, -you know, can make -at least a megawatt -of, of electricity.

-The first worldwide wind -turbine connected to -a utility was the Agricola -wind turbine in Denmark.

-The 40 kilowatt turbine -ran between 1921 and 24, -preceding the fifth Putnam -wind turbine -by two decades.

-The second was -the Balaklava wind turbine -near Yalta on the Crimea -Peninsula in Russia.

-This 100 kilowatt turbine -ran between 1931 and 42, -when it was destroyed -by the Wehrmacht in -the battle for Sevastopol.

-Putnam reviewed these -and many other -of the larger windmills, -but none of them appeared -quite satisfactory.

-They did lots of tests -on paper to see -you know what -the right combination was.

-They looked -at various designs -and began to develop -this design in the 1930s, -and got to a point -where they thought it was -they were ready -to really start building -the initial unit -at full scale.

-What the challenge was at -that time was -it was also as World War -II was breaking out.

-So there were really a lot -of constraints -that they were facing.

-And at certain points -in the project, -they decided to speed up -because they might not -get access to some of the -materials and equipment -they needed.

-Because of the war effort -gearing up -in Europe -and increasing the US, -getting involved -as they got close.

-One of the things they -really had to do was find -people who could make all -the different components.

-This was not a single -machine -made in a single factory.

-You had to have someone -who could build the tower, -someone who could build -the the generator itself, -someone who could fabricate the blade 75ft long each, -and then how and where -they would assemble it.

-So these things all -had to be put together.

-Sticking to the -design -that Putnam came up with.

-Although as they did -that they had to make -some modifications, things they learned along the way.

They went from there -and it became an effort -to see -whether they were ready -to actually put -one of these turbines up.

-And so they did a search -for the right -kind of a site.

-They wanted -to be on a ridge -where they got -strong winds -that were pretty reliable, -and then they had to -actually get the thing up -to the top of this ridge.

-And they had a big problem -along the way as they -literally were hauling it.

-A big -a big piece of equipment -tipped over, and it took -them weeks to get it -back on the trailer -to get it to the top -of the mountain and, -and then attach the blades -and, you know, then -they were ready to to try -it very, very carefully.

-The erection of the -wind turbine -on Grandpa's knob -presented -a number of unusual -hauling -and lifting problems.

-In March 1941, the turbine blades -were shipped -from Cleveland, Ohio, -to the West Rutland Yards -of the Vermont -Marble Company, -where two traveling bridge -cranes of 2010 and 15 -ton capacity were used -to unload the parts.

Large trailers then transported -the material -to the top -of the mountain, -ten trips being required -to complete the task.

-The hauling of the turbine -from West Rutland to -the foot of the mountain -took place without mishap.

-The tower foundations -had been started -in the fall of 1940, -as soon as the road -was completed.

By the early part of December, the foundations were in -and the tower was erected -during the next two months.

-This work continued -in temperatures as low -as 18 degrees below zero, -and in winds of 60mph.

-Hauling of the wind -turbine parts from West -Rutland to the site -was done from March -15th to May -1st of the spring of 1941, -in a race against spring -floods and thawing roads.

-In order -to measure -the vertical distribution -of wind velocity -above wooded summits.

-They had to -erect a structure -to hold three anemometer -at various levels.

-On Grandpa's Knob, -they erected 185ft -Christmas tree -for the purpose -of measuring -the vertical distribution -of the velocity -above the bare summit.

-The horizontal -distribution of velocity -and the structure -of the wind.

-Before they could start -assembling -the actual wind turbine, -they had to build -a specialized -erection crane.

-The main erection -crane was a large lattice -boom crane, -which was utilized on site -to haul tower sections -and attached -the two massive eight -ton blades to the hub.

-Today, -this structure -would not have been needed because of the availability of massive mobile cranes, which are now used to lift all the wind -turbine parts into place.

Saying this, these massive cranes would have had difficulty driving to the top of the mountain.

The access road had to be wider -and the sharp bends -somehow straightened.

-After the -completion of this crane, -it was then time to start -assembling the wind -turbine tower, -the 120ft steel -lattice tower -for the wind turbine -was built and designed -by the American Bridge -Company.

-The assembly involved -fabricating large steel -sections offsite, transporting them to Grandpa's Knob, -and using the massive -crane to lift -and bolt -these sections onto -a substantial concrete -foundation.

-All managed with expert -forecasting -to work around the high -winds.

-The construction -of the 2.2 -mile road -began in August 1940 -and completed in -six weeks, -approaching -a maximum of 15%, and in -no place -was less than 12%.

-They used a half track -in front of the truck -and a bulldozer -pushing or pulling -as the occasion demanded, -about 1000ft below -the summit at a sharp -hairpin on a steep grade.

-The pintle girder, -weighing about 43 tons, -including the parts -already assembled on it, -broke its lashings -turned over in a ditch.

-Unfortunately, -there was no damage.

-It took three weeks -to get the -pintle -back on the trailer.

-The Smith -Putnam wind turbine -featured a massive steel -truss tower.

-The tower cap, -placed on top of the tower -structure, -supported the pintle or -generator platform -known as the nacelle.

-The cell housed -many of the primary -components -of the wind turbine.

-The entire assembly -was mounted on a massive -vertical shaft or pintle, -allowing the nozzle -to rotate in response -to the wind -direction.

This can be seen -from Putnam's -original design.

-This was a complex -piece of equipment -with several major -components.

-The pencil -girder and associated -components was hoisted -into place on May -15th, 1941.

-The blades were positioned -at the bottom -of the mountain -and then moved to the top.

-After -the tower was completed, -the First Blade -was hoisted -into place -early in August.

-A Smith -pattern wind turbine -blades were massive, -two bladed, -66ft as 20m long, -eight tons steel -structures forming 175ft.

-That's 53m diameter rotor -built with steel spars -and stainless -steel skin.

-The turbine was a downwind -design.

This means that the blades were positioned downwind of the tower.

There was blade coning.

The hinge roots allowed -the blades to deflect -slightly backwards -in a cone shape -under high wind loads, -acting as a passive -control mechanism.

-There was also -hydraulic pitch, -which is an active control -adjusted blade -pitch to maintain -a constant rotor -speed of 28 revolutions -per minute.

-After erecting the first -played, it was necessary -to rotate the turbine -through 180 degrees, -lifting the first blade -to the vertical -upward position -so that the second blade -could be put into place.

-After only -two years of construction, -the Smith Putnam wind -turbine -was ready for prime time -in gusty 25 mile an hour -winds.

-On October 19th, 1941, -high above the Whitecaps -on Lake Champlain, -the 1.25MW turbine was connected to the Vermont grid, the first time ever -that wind power was fed -into the high voltage -lines -of a utility company.

-The turbine -operated on and off -for the next five years, -facing winds of up -to 115mph.

-In February 1943, -a routine inspection -discovered the downwind -main bearing running hot.

It was found that the bearing had moved on the shaft and was rubbing on the end -plate.

Further inspections showed the inner race cracked through.

-Replacement of this -bearing -was a serious jolt -to the project.

-In fact, it took two years -to replace the bearing, -and it wasn't -until March 1945 -that the turbine -was back in operation.

-For three weeks in March.

-The turbine was operated -without incident.

-On March 26th, -the midnight to 8 a.m.

-shift came on duty -to find only about -five miles per hour wind.

-About 230 -the wind freshened, -and at 2:50 a.m.

-there was sufficient -wind to start the unit.

-The unit was phased into -the line at 2:55 a.m., -when it was carrying -from 50 to 475kW of load -Harold Perry, the erection -foreman, was aloft at 3:30 am.

-standing on the side -of the house, away -from the control panel, -and separated from it -by the 24 -inch rotating main shaft.

-A shock threw him to his -knees against the wall.

-He started -for the controls, -but again was thrown to -his knees.

-He tried again, and again -he was thrown down, -collected himself.

He dove over the rotating shaft, reached the controls.

-He brought the unit to -a full stop in about 10s -by bringing -the remaining blade -to full feather.

-One of the eight -ton blades had let go -when in about this -7:00 position, -and had been tossed 750ft -where -it landed on its tip.

-Following the failure, -Palmer Putnam -was asked to review -the entire project -and to estimate -the future of large scale -wind power.

-The engineers of the Small -and Smith Company felt -that they were now in a position to design a large wind -turbine with confidence -and felt, -with further improvements -that would make -the operation smoother, -the maintenance simpler, -and the energy -cost less.

Putnam did think about building -the next set of turbines -on a hilltop in Vermont, -several of them, but -again, lack of resources, -lack of interest.

-And so this really was -the end of this particular -turbine design.

-But this wasn't -the end of the work -of Palmer Putnam.

-As the wind work -slowed down -in the late 40s -and early 50s, -Putnam got very interested -in new energy sources.

-On the principle, -one was nuclear power, -and in fact, -he was put under contract -to the Atomic Energy -Commission -to look at prospects -for that energy source.

-And Putnam -came out of that, having written a book called The Future of Energy, -which lent great weight -to the future of nuclear -power in the United States -and globally.

-But Putnam went on to -really give a great focus -to nuclear power, -and projected -that this energy -technology -would have a great growth -projector -in the United States -and around the world.

-Perhaps Putnam's greatest -legacy is the book -he wrote.

-Power from the wind.

-Vannevar Bush -actually encouraged Putnam -to write this book, -and Putnam dove in -and came up -with an important -chronicle -of the birth of wind power -so important that -to this day, -people interested.

-And when people who -eventually got into wind -and had great influence -first and foremost read -that book -was born and raised -in Pittsford, Vermont.

-And as a kid I started to -play around with weather.

-So I would build a paper, -a cup anemometer, -and a wind direction veins -and put them on the -birdhouse in our backyard.

-You know, I was like -a nine, ten year old.

-So I thought I wanted -to be a meteorologist, -a weatherman.

-And then and a few years -later, -my mom pulled out -all these articles -about the grandpa's -knob Smith Putnam -wind turbine that were in, -I think it was Vermont -Life magazine or whatever.

-And she showed me those.

-And I got -really interested in wind, -and I had a sugarhouse -I would maple sugar -in the spring, -and I built out -of a bicycle -generator, -a little wind turbine.

And I tried to light up a light bulb -and I got it -to light up once.

-And so I was really hooked -on, hey, -this wind stuff -is really interesting, but the real time that really got me motivated was, -you know, my mom gave me -all this information, I read about it and as a 12 year old, -my dad, this was 1969.

-My dad rented a snowmobile -and we snowmobile -from Pittsford -all the way over -to Grandpa's knob.

-It took all day -to go over there to -the top of the mountain, -and the reason was, he wanted to show me the foundations -that were left of the -Smith Putnam wind turbine.

-And so when I saw the -foundations and came home, -I said, wind -is going to be my future.

-I studied it -over the years.

-The book -that Palmer wrote, -or From the Wind, -was sort of my Bible -of what happened here.

-And so I learned a lot about it.

But yeah, the -Smith Putnam wind turbine -and just a side story -is I met Palmer Putnam -in an elevator at -the first win conference -I went to in 1982.

-I shook his hand, and -he died a few years later.

-And it was so important -because I considered him -sort of the father of -large wind in the world.

I first became interested in the Smith Putnam turbine when I took -my first course -and went into the.

-The book that we used -was the book that -Palmer Putnam had written -about the project.

So.

-So I said, ha!

-Since it's -only up in Vermont, -I should go pay a visit -to the site -and see what's left, -if anything.

-So I teach class in wind -turbine technology, -and we -start off with the history -of wind turbines as they -started -many, many years ago, -grinding flour -and pumping water, -and eventually gets -into a technology -where they can generate -electricity.

-And that's about the time -where we pick up -the Smith Putnam -wind turbine, -which is was located -in Grandpa's -Knob near Rowan.

-I became involved -in wind power -through attending a class.

One of the first classes I took when entering college -was down in the River -Valley in Vermont, -and I met a college -professor from New York -who we teamed up together -to study -commercial -wind power in Vermont.

And that led to us very quickly to studying the Vermont -Smith Putnam -Project down in Castleton -that was installed -in the 40s.

-The Smith Titan machine -had 3 or 4 major -innovative pieces.

-The first one, -you got to tribute -entirely to von Karman -and the team at MIT, -which was a -flapping rotor.

-That means each -blade had an independent -flapping hinge.

-A lead lag hinge is one -that allows the blade to -hinge this way, which -helicopters also have.

-But a wind turbine -could never have one -because it goes around -in a vertical plane, -so the gravity would just -drive that one nuts.

-But in helicopters, it's -very important -to decrease the stress -at the root.

-And a lead like hinge -does that.

-But a flapping hinge -is designed -to lower the stresses -at the root of the blade.

-So typically -if you had a rigid blade, -the highest force is -at the root of the blade.

-If you let it -free to move, -it will come -to an equilibrium where the centrifugal force is equal to the wind force, and there's no stress at the base.

No one had ever done a wind turbine like that before.

-Before the Smith Putnam, -there was really very -little -electric generation.

-All the early electric -generators up -to that were -one much smaller in size, -and two all rigid rotors -with either -some kind of alternative -control mechanism -or some automated blade -feathering mechanism.

-So it was really went off -on a really interesting -aerodynamics, -which was at the time -when helicopters -are just taking off.

-So we go to World -War two, right?

-The biggest aerodynamics -work, innovative work -is all in new helicopters.

-That was seen -as they were just barely used in World War One.

But in World War 2, they saw that as a huge advantage.

-They used standard -pitching control, -which was well known -because it had been used -by all the other machines, -the littler machines.

-So that -was accepted practice.

-Then you had the -teetering mechanism, the -innovative thing -that wasn't picked up -for many, -many years, really, -was the direct linkage -between the wind turbine -and the hydro energy -in the -Central Vermont utility.

-Grid system.

In the book power from the wind, Putnam looked at the econmics -of large scale -wind power integrated -with a hydropower system -in the United States.

-It wasn't until the early -80s, some 35 years later, -that these integrated -or hybrid systems -came to fruition.

-And then the other thing -that really -was one of those rocks -that's not too stable -was the use -of a synchronous generator -up to that time, -synchronous generators, -which is a generator -that runs at 60 cycles.

-So it's synchronous -with the utility -and it can't deviate -in its frequency.

-It's got to run -at the frequency.

-So if it tries to -run a little faster -than the frequency -it puts power -into the grid.

-And if it tries to run -a little slower -it takes power from -the grid.

-This is a motor.

-So so using those -devices as wind turbines -is very problematic.

-When the wind is going up -and down.

-The Smith Putnam wind -turbine was designed -and built with a nameplate -capacity of 1.25MW.

-This is the maximum power -the generator -was designed to produce.

-Despite the 1.25MW rating, -the turbines actual -power output was often -around one megawatt.

-This is because the power -factor of the system -was not unity, but rather -0.8, and number two -is effectively -a rigid system.

-It can only run at one -speed, -it can put power -in and out, -but it can only run at one -speed.

-So wind turbines -got are subject -to a massive amount -of turbulence -because they're very close -to the ground.

-Like if airplanes -had to run -as close to the ground -as wind turbines would, they would be ripped up there.

Just too much commotion in the air.

-That's why when you land -and take off, as allows -a lot more commotion, -when you have that -much variation in power -and you don't -have a flexible -generating system, -that is, -you have a rigid system, -all that becomes -like impact -damage to the system.

-So your fatigue damage -goes way up and very rapidly goes up, -and you've got these -massive surges of power -from the machine, -which are very unreliable, -you know, big hunks -of power jammed at it.

-It can't do anything.

-It can't respond -fast enough.

-So it just has to -take that.

-So you end up in these -untenable situations where -very high amounts -of stress, -very high amounts -of power, to the point -where you're going -to start -blowing all your -electrical protection, -because this is always -going to be happening -at the higher end.

-So that they had -some problems with that.

-They didn't really realize -how bad it was -because the test program -didn't last that long.

But anybody that was watching and listening and paying attention, you could see that they were having a serious stress environment induced -by that same -synchronous generation.

-Now every machine is -built -has got a, a variation -on that theme -that allows the rotor -to run at different speeds -and doesn't affect -the power output, -the flow of power -to the grid and softens -that whole load system.

-Well, the work -with the engineers -and scientists -of the Smith Putnam -Project was cutting -edge at the time, -but it did really form -the foundation -for virtually -everything we do.

-I mean, -they were discovering -things that weren't -yet discovered.

-Of course, -the obvious -one is the winds -are strongest at the top -of the mountains.

-Back in the late -30s, early 40s, -when the Smith Putnam -people went to find out -how much does -the wind blow?

-There was almost no data -available for them -at the windy locations, -so they first -had to start out -by setting up -scientific quality -wind measurement -stations -atop Vermont mountaintops.

-I think they might have -had a half dozen or more.

-I don't remember -exactly the number, but -those stations -actually confirmed -that the wind resource -was at the top -of the mountains.

-That's fundamental.

-I ended up starting -a wind measurement -company, Energy Systems.

-A lot of it had to do -with that -early introduction -to Wind Grandpa's Knob.

-And so I got to figure out where the wind was in the world.

That's what we did.

We made wind measuring instruments.

-So a lot -of the lessons that they -learned in -by building -that wind turbine, -they had to measure -the wind in the mountains -around New England, -and they had to measure -the winds and figure out -mountaintop -icing mountaintops -in Vermont, all ice up.

-And and -they had to figure out how do you measure the wind -when you have -a icing environment.

-So they came up -with a heated anemometer that they prototyped and put on some of the mountains.

-I think Pico had one.

-And they tried -to make these things work -so that they could -actually measure the wind.

-And over the years, NRG, -I ended up -copying all their lessons -of how they made that heat -and a anemometer.

-And I came out with a -anemometer called the ice -free anemometer to run -for wind measurement, for -siting, but also for wind -turbine control.

-And to this day -there's probably -closer -to 50,000 to 100,000 -of the ice free sensors -controlling -wind turbines -in the world.

-Because of what -they learned -in the 19 late 1930s -on Grandpa's Knob -and around New England.

-They also recognized, -as Putnam noted in -all of the literature, -that this is commercial -needs to interconnect -with the grid, so -knowing where the grid is -and who controls it -and how to get -their permission to enter -the grid.

-Those are all fundamental -things that were established -back in the Smith -Putnam program that today -we almost take -for granted, but -they had nothing to work -with back then.

-And they found out -how that -how important factors -such as that were.

-And of course, the Putnam -did a marvelous job at documenting that in the book he wrote several years -after -the project was complete, -so large machines, -rotors, blades -that can feather -with the wind, -as they call it, -whether it should be -an upwind -or downwind machine, -and getting the -electrical systems right so that the grid can accept the power from such a variable resource.

-Those are still -fundamentals today, -and they are -used in every wind farm -you see around the world.

-It wasn't until the 1970s -that that the whole idea -was revisited.

-So that was kind of -roughly -73 or 4, I think.

-Then it was -the idea was revisited.

-And Paul Putnam, -the was kind of -the main, the main person -in the project, -he was still alive -and active and interested.

-And so he was consulted -a lot by the by the Department of People, the Department of Energy, who didn't know anything at all about wind energy.

Here was somebody who did.

-So so he was -he was brought into to some of the conferences and meetings to discuss their project.

-And as I say, -I think that led -to the whole series of, -of of turbines -that were built in the -in the 1970s -and early 80s, the -so called the mod series -of turbines, the mod zero, -the mod one and my two.

-I'm trying to remember if -there are any in between.

-There was a mod, -there were the mod -five series of mod five B -that were became quite, -quite large turbines -and they all -they all followed from -that that design.

-It was really inspiring.

-When the next round -of companies -really tried to produce -an industrial grade, -commercially viable -wind turbine, -they realize -that you could do -a project on that scale.

-So in the 1970s, companies -like Boeing -and General Electric -got back into the business -and started building -these very large -megawatt scale -wind turbines and learned -from the Smith Putnam -turbine and using -what materials -and technologies -had been developed -at that time.

-They advanced -the technology -for a lot of the serious -people that cared about -when studied Palmer -Putnam's book, -it was like on the shelf -day one, and -before we'd ever -think about a new idea, -we'd run that.

-We'd run it by, well, -they tried this.

-Why this?

Why not this?

-I think Putnam -would be enthralled -at how well wind power -has developed over -the last several decades.

-It's come down in price -in a substantial way, -and it's found a vast -new area for development -that is going offshore, -both with shallow water -turbines and increasingly -with floating turbines.

-At the same time, -I think it would be -very intrigued, -very impressed -with the progress -that solar energy has made -as well, -coming down in price -dramatically -and being developed -at very large scale -all over the world.

-The two together, I think, -are going to define -a big chunk of future -electricity generation -all around the world, -and with advances -in storage technology -will make up a big -a big piece -of of how we power -the planet going forward.

-The United States, -even though we pioneered -these things, you know, -we tend to develop -and basically come up -with the solar cell, -some of the wind -turbine technology, -you look at everything, -but we lose it when we try -to implement it.

-Other -people have to go do it because we don't seem to be able to commercialize it -and go forward with it.

-And, you know, -we see it all the time.

We develop all this stuff and then we don't do anything with it.

-No, the Europeans are way -ahead of us.

-It's a Denmark -has figured out -how you integrate -large amounts of wind -into your electric system, -but still keep the lights -on when there's no wind.

-They have DC power lines -that go to -Norway and Sweden.

So in the middle of the night when they there over 100% wind energy -for everything, they ship -the power to Norway.

-They shut down their dams -and Sweden the same way.

-And then the next day -they released -the dams in Norway and sell the power back to Denmark -so that they -have a complete renewable -integrated system.

-We don't do -enough of that.

-We haven't figured out how -to put it all together.

Between New England and the province of Quebec, and beyond -the surrounding -Canadian provinces.

-I'm thinking -of New Brunswick, -Labrador, Newfoundland.

-They're interested -in collaborating -with New England -as a resource.

Again, as we've talked about where you have sources of energy being taken off the table -as a region, when you have -opposition -to your policies.

-And within the eastern -provinces of Canada -and New England, -there's a lot of alignment -in terms of policies -and support.

-What has been really -explored, -studied -by MIT in particular, -is the establishment -of this -truly bidirectional -system grid electric grid -that would allow -each region -to complement each other -and utilize our resources.

-As it happens, -there is just an analysis -that's been released -in the last month -where -it's clear -that Hydro-Québec -has resources, -hydro resources -it can put into the market -at times of need.

-In New England -when it's very cold -for long periods of time.

-Conversely, -when Hydro-Québec has -needs, -that's when generation, -especially because of wind -and solar, -we can send electrons -north.

It's already happening.

In fact, here in Vermont, -especially at the Highgate -intersection, we have a -back to -back high voltage direct -current converter that's -been there for 40 years, -which or thereabouts, -and is now being -what's next for that site.

-The whole management -of that asset has changing -and is moving electrons -north and south, mostly -based on energy market -consideration.

-But what you're alluding -to, as -has been done in Finland, -there's such -value and efficiencies -that can be realized -when there's smarter -integration of hydro.

-And with these other -resources, -I hope we can get there.

-That's exactly, I think, -especially Vermont, -given our geography -and where we just happen -to be blessed -of where we sit in terms -on the border with Canada -next to New York -in the northwestern -portion of New England, -there's a great role -for us, -sometimes -the whole transmission -to be able to pump, -because we have, -for the first -time, maybe since the -since -Vermont Yankee -nuclear power plant, -about 660MW -of very southern Vermont -was went away, -stopped operations.

-We haven't been able to -Vermont has been a net -importer of energy -and still is like -95% of the time, -5% and growing though -we're sending electrons -north.

That's just you could argue it's proof of concept, -but the notion -that the best way -for our region -to sustainably -have reliable -and affordable power -is to better compliment, -as Finland is doing.

-No question.

-Totally agree.

-What I'm seeing -and hearing -and participating -is a revisit -of all of discussion -of all forms of energy, -including wind, candidly -including -small modular -nuclear, advanced nuclear.

-And there's even some -within New England -saying, well, -maybe we need to revisit -the natural gas -pipeline approach.

-I think what that's going -to do is precipitate -a revisit of, doesn't -it make more sense -to revisit commercial wind -in the state of Vermont?

I can't say it but my guess is this desire -to reexamine options -given, again, -the things that we have -seen, where -we're we're absolutely -being precluded -from proceeding -and pursuing.

-Well, -then what can we pursue?

-And I think that -might give rise to that.

Because of my history and growing up near Grandpa's Knob, -I was looking for sites -that we could easily -put up 1 to 2 turbines because I was going to the model of not building -a wind farm -that had hundreds -of turbines in Vermont, -said, no, -I have to go and pick -some sites -I had measured -many years ago -to confirm -what Palmer Putnam had -for a wind data -back in the 30s, -so I confirmed it -by measuring on the -the communication tower -for a number of years.

-When I was at NRG, -what the winds were.

-So I knew -what the winds were.

So I knew what the energy could come from a wind turbine there.

-And a lot of it went back -to Palmer's work.

-But I confirmed -all those things.

-But I also wanted -to find sites -that had a power line -in a road.

-Well, the road was there -from the late 30s.

-The power -line is still existing.

-That feeds up to the top -of the mountain.

So I said, oh, this should be -a simpler site -to build on, because -putting a road into -to hilltops -and mountaintops -is really expensive -and, you know, -it costs a lot of money.

-So the idea was to go -and put one turbine -nearby on the little knoll -that's to the northwest -of the original site.

-So it was close, -but it was far enough away -that we didn't have FAA -lighting problems -or interfering with a calm -tower that's there.

-So it was supposed -to be economical site, -but it turns -out with opposition and -the permitting -in the state of Vermont, -it was going to cost -way too much -money -and I had to abandon it.

-So and it was really -the opposition, -the state agencies, -agency -and natural resources -and others kept -throwing -little things at us.

-Said, what about this?

-What about.

So the permitting was just getting out of control -and it was raising -the cost.

-So at some point I said, -no, we got to stop this.

-And one of the reasons -to go back -there was to basically -go and do what -Palmer wanted to do -and have wind work there, -because it could have -happened -with the modern technology -that we had, -the turbine that we had, -it was all going to work.

-It's just that -politically, -the permitting was hard.

-The political environment.

-We have a governor -that doesn't care about -wind, he doesn't like -wind power.

-And the Public Utility -Commission has -a sound rule that makes it -very difficult to put -a wind turbine anywhere -in Vermont right now.

-So there's -these things that were -we were up against and -I couldn't overcome them.

-You have to get permission -from the Vermont -Public Utility Commission -for all the land impact.

-And what's going to happen -for related to -siting wetlands, -threatened, endangered -species, air impacts, -sound impact, all the like -those things -have to resolve such -that you earn are granted -a certificate of public good from the Vermont Public Utility Commission.

-So if you get permission -from the regional entity -and you get permission -collaboratively -at the Vermont Public -Utility Commission -level in collaboration -with the transmission -utility Vermont Electric Power Company, you get to yes, the world really needs to -thank Palmer Putnam -for the progress -he made with wind power -in the late 1930s.

-And in the 1940s.

-We really would not be -where we are today -without that -important contribution.

-(upbeat music) -It's like the answer's always -!been all around us and within.

-The Earth's been singing, -we just had to tune it in.

-It was somewhere in the wind, -!like the sail out on the ocean, -like a maple seed that spins -like a kite just waiting -In a child's hand, -alive with just one breath.

-One breath of wind.

-One breath of wind.

-For a dream to come alive -it takes a team, -it takes some time -But it all begins -with a beautiful design -Right place,right time, -like a sail out on the ocean -Like a maple seed that spins.

-Like a kite just waiting -in a child's hand.

-Alive with just one breath, -one breath of wind.

-The green mountain state -led the way again.

-High on a ridge in Castleton, -!out in thin air, pulling power -from the wind, from the wind.

-!Like the sail out on the ocean.

-!Like the maple seed that spins.

-Like the kite just waiting -in a child's hand.

-Alive with just one breath, -one breath of wind.

-Out on the ocean.

-!Like the maple seed that spins.

-Like the kite just -waiting in a child's hand.

-Alive with just one breath.

-!It's alive with just one breath.

-Alive with just one breath.

-One breath of wind.