by Brenda McDonald, MSU Communications Services Wind power has come a long way from the creaking wood windmills associated with Holland to the sleek behemoths today known as wind turbines. Ludlow Howe, '82 CET, sees those changes firsthand as a project manager for D.H. Blattner and Sons. In the last few years the Minnesota-based Blattner has filled a specialty niche with its construction of wind farms which generate wind energy, touted as the fastest growing area of power generation in the world. The company has built wind farms in Condon, Ore., Sacramento, Calif., McCamey, Texas, Woodward, Okla., Hancock, Iowa, Storm Lake, Iowa, and has a current project in Waymart, Penn. Howe, of Billings, is currently on his third wind farm project for Blattner. His job is to make sure projects get built on time and on budget. He started with the McCamey project where he directed the erection of 242 wind turbines in October 1999. Early in 2000 he went on to the Stateline project in Oregon that called for 454 turbines. Each of those turbines is on a 160-foot tall tower with blades that are 80 feet long. The project is the world's largest single wind energy development. Wind energy is not a cheap resource to develop, with turbines costing about $1 million each. It's an industry that relies heavily on federal production tax credits. The continuation of those credits is in doubt after the scheduled December expiration. Howe is currently working on the Waymart Wind Farm in Pennsylvania, which will have almost three times the generating power of the Stateline project's turbines with towers 212 feet tall and blades 113 feet long. The project is slated for completion Oct.1. As project manger he directs the work of three CET (Construction Engineering Technology) engineers who are also MSU graduates. MSU grads employed by Blattner include: Dustin Hadnot, '03 CET, Eric Roset, '02 MCEM, '01 CET, Janie Stephens, '03 CET, Cory Mitchell, '03 CET, B.J. LeMieux, '02 CET, Mark Ferrara, '02 CET, Chanda (Wilkins) Lytton, '01 CET, Raul Machanguana, '02 CET and Dodd O'Neill, '85 MET. "The CET program at MSU is a good one," he said. It provides hands-on experience while introducing the business side of construction. It also gives students a leg up having the operational background. MSU students, and Montanans in general, have a good work ethic." Howe thinks Blattner will continue to see an influx of MSU students. "The students are well trained. I've got the company believing MSU grads are a good product. That's important to me." Ludlow Howe (photo by Jeannine Lintner).