Sandy Butterfield

Sandy has been an innovator and leader in wind energy his entire career.  Prior to co-founding Boulder Wind Power Sandy spent over 24 years at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), most recently as Chief Engineer at NREL’s National Wind Test Center and leader of the Gearbox Reliability Collaborative.  His work at NREL included aerodynamics research, testing, design reviews, contract management, manager of the applied research program and leader of the certification / standards program.

Sandy was a wind energy entrepreneur prior to NREL.  He co-founded ESI, a wind turbine manufacturing company in 1980 where he was Vice President of Engineering responsible for all aspects of design and manufacturing. Sandy is currently Chairman of IEC TC88 Technical Committee which is responsible for international wind turbine standards.  He has authored or co-authored more than 100 papers. Sandy graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering in 1977 where he studied under Bill Heronemous, famous for his floating offshore wind farm proposals in the early 1970s.