Industry News

REpower has completed construction of a test wind farm in Gaspé, Quebec. Created in partnership with Renewable Energy Systems Canada, the Site Nordique Experimental en EolienCORUS (SNEEC) features two 2.05 megawatt cold climate turbines specially designed for the Canadian 60-hertz network. The wind farm will support research, development, and testing of turbines that can function in extreme temperature conditions. The developer and owner of the project is the Wind Energy TechnoCentre.

Kansas State University was awarded $12 million in February of 2010 by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to support research in zoonotic and animal disease defense. The grant will establish a Center of Excellence to develop vaccines, diagnostic methods, pandemic modeling tools, and educational programs.

Sinovac Biotech is establishing a five-building vaccine manufacturing campus in Beijing, China. The 32,323-sm project represents an investment of $17.6 million. Housing two production lines, filling and packaging, warehouse space, and a vivarium, the campus will produce vaccines for influenza and enterovirus 71. The facilities will be fully operational in 2012.

Okanagan College is building the $28 million Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy Conservation in Penticton, British Columbia. The zero-energy, zero-waste facility will feature the largest photovoltaic solar array on a non-utility building in Canada. Supporting education, research, and training in sustainable design, the building will include interactive instrumentation for monitoring of building systems. The facility will also house the Okanagan Research and Innovation Centre.

Cord Blood America opened its 17,000-sf laboratory in Las Vegas in early 2010. The building houses facilities for stem cell storage, processing, testing, and cryogenic storage. Construction began on the project in August of 2009. A second construction phase will include expanded cryogenic facilities and a research laboratory.