IOWA LAKES STUDENT TO INTERN AT NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY AT GOLDEN, COLORADO

An Iowa Lakes Community College student will participate in a prestigious internship this summer.
Dan Rathe, from Dunkerton, a Wind Energy and Turbine Technology student, has accepted a 10-week internship at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in Golden, Colorado. Rathe is the only participant in the Community College Institute of Science and Computing (CCI) program among the team of 37 interns at the lab.

“An internship at the National Wind Technology Center is an exciting opportunity to learn about wind turbine computer control,” said Rathe. “I look forward to the challenge and expect to have an enriching experience.”

Rathe will draw on his Iowa Lakes education as he works directly with a research scientist at NREL. The major area of focus for Rathe will be to assist in the installation of a new control and data-acquisition system and converting a two-blade turbine to a three-blade tower. The ultimate goal of the control algorithms being implemented are to regulate wind turbine rotor speed, mitigate blade loads, provide smooth transitions between efficient wind turbine start-up, operation and shut-down and maximize the amount of energy captured by the wind turbine.

Rathe will receive financial support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in collaboration with NREL. Rathe is a NSF Infinity Scholarship recipient.

“It’s indicative of the quality of the students we’re attracting in this program,” said College President Mike Hupfer. “It’s also indicative of the opportunities of which they may avail themselves.”