Upated at 2 pm: The NREL team can breath alittle easier after it was announced by Energy Secretary Steven Chu this morning that it will receive $110 million in federal economic-stimulus funds — $10 million toward its wind-power testing facility and $100 million for construction and upgrades.

In addition, the facility can apply for grants from another $83 million, earmarked for wind-research projects and distributed by the local U.S. Department of Energy office in Boulder, Chu said.

“Wind energy will be one of the most important contributors to meeting President Obama’s target of generating 10 percent of our electricity from renewable sources by 2012,” Chu added

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By David A,. Hill

Today the team of scientists, researchers and engineers who toil at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory should feel a little more chipper about things. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, will be on hand at the Golden facility to announce that millions of dollars from President Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package will be going to wind power research projects.

Given the history of wind energy research at the NREL, Chu couldn’t have picked a better place in which to make the announcement, Gov. Ritter exclaimed.

“NREL is a key partner in Colorado’s new-energy economy, and this funding will help create sustainable jobs and allow NREL to continue spurring innovation as we transform America’s energy future.”

How much the NREL will ultimately receive from the stimulus is anyone’s guess, as the DOE, which owns the Golden site, has not disclosed any figures. You will forgive the NREL if it is somewhat sensitive on the funding issue.

Earlier this month the NREL and local government officials expressed disappointment when the federal agency admitted that the the renowned R&D facility would not directly benefit much from the ARRA, even if it does include hundreds of millions of dollars on energy efficiency programs and in select renewable energy areas. Chris Powers, a department spokesperson, was quoted as saying, “The nature of the type of work required under the (stimulus) act dictates how the DOE must spend the money and the vast majority of energy-efficiency and renewable-energy funding is geared toward programs in which NREL does not play a role.”

From the NREL’s perspective, it seemed as though the more things change, the more they stay the same. The facility has a fickle history of funding, as noted in a recent article by Anne B. Butterfield, spouse of NREL’s chief engineer at the wind center.

“We have an interest in sound funding and more jobs coming here to Colorado where our renewable energy policy leads the nation, brings new industry, and where NREL has made breakthrough energy solutions for 32 years, Butterfield said. “It has done this in spite of funding that has swung from boom to bust with the shifting winds of politics, energy crises and the parasitic power of earmarks.”

“The New York Times has often noted how NREL’s budgets have been hammered,” Butterfield added.

Chu’s visit and anticipated announcement should mark a major turning point. After all, everyone knows the Obama White House has been emphasizing the importance of renewable energy development from Day 1 and, with passage of the ARRA, is allocating more money for it than all previous administrations combined - much more. An important area of interest is taking wind power, a relatively mature renewable source, to the next level — with bigger and more efficient turbines to power utility scale projects. The NREL is tailor-made for such R&D, of course.

“Its exciting news that Secretary Chu will be announcing millions in funding for wind projects across the country and at NREL,” said Senator, Mark Udall. “Colorado has the wind in the eastern plains, the sun in the San Luis Valley and the great minds at research facilities like NREL to be a national leader in the new energy economy.”

Udall joined Congressman (Ed) Perlmutter from Golden in a joint conference call on Tuesday in which they emphasized that the NREL is the crown jewel the Department of Energy oversees. “We are going to fight for every fund and make sure that appropriate and significant funds are directed to NREL,” Udall said.