Farmers and rural businesses to benefit from new project choices | News

Competitiveness Project Awards harness the potential of distributed wind energy in agricultural environments

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The new Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP) awards will benefit farmers and small rural businesses by focusing on ways to remove market barriers to the deployment of distributed wind turbines in agricultural settings.

Through the CIP, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced plans to award $3.2 million to 12 U.S. component suppliers and manufacturers of small and medium-sized wind turbines for 13 new projects. The 2024 CIP selections, targeting rural agriculture markets, support the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and DOE’s new Rural and Agricultural Income & Savings from Renewable Energy (RAISE) initiative, which supports distributed wind energy as part of the White House’s clean energy goals.

Managed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on behalf of DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) since 2012, CIP aims to make distributed wind energy technologies more cost-competitive, reliable, grid-compatible, and accessible. Additionally, CIP projects promote innovations that enable the deployment of distributed wind energy technologies in emerging distributed generation markets.

“By funding the development of wind energy technologies that increase cost savings and revenue-generating opportunities for rural small businesses and farmers, CIP helps realize the potential of distributed wind energy in America’s agricultural communities,” said Brent Summerville, NREL distributed wind researcher and CIP program manager. Distributed wind energy is used at or near the point of generation.

According to NREL’s 2022 Distributed Wind Futures Study, the United States has the potential to profitably deploy nearly 1,400 gigawatts of distributed wind capacity—more than half of the country’s current annual electricity consumption. Farmlands in the Midwest and the heartland account for 70% of that potential.

“CIP advances distributed wind technology to provide distributed energy customers with options certified for performance and quality,” Summerville said. “CIP also advances distributed wind commercialization, market expansion and deployment, while supporting partnerships among distributed wind developers, agricultural groups and agribusiness.”

The selection of projects for 2024 focuses on farmers and small agricultural businesses

Companies selected to receive CIP 2024 awards will now begin negotiations with NREL to receive cost-shared subcontracts and technical support. The selected companies include several former CIP awardees and several new to the program: a manufacturer of a 1-megawatt (MW) wind turbine (the largest turbine that can qualify for CIP funding), a manufacturer of vertical-axis wind turbines, and an Alaska-based developer.

Once contracts are finalized for 2024, NREL will award 77 subcontracts to 30 companies, resulting in a total of $18.5 million in DOE funding while leveraging $11.2 million in additional private sector investment since the CIP program launched in 2012.

Categories of awards and distinctions in 2024:

Prototype installation and testing

These projects aim to determine the readiness of a wind turbine prototype for commercialization and confirm that turbine designs or their improvements are ready for certification testing.

• Speed ​​up the wind (Birmingham, Alabama) will conduct full-scale testing of a prototype 12-kilowatt (kW) rooftop wind turbine.
• Pecos Wind Energy (Somerville, Massachusetts) will test a prototype of the 85 kW PW85 turbine.

Certification and registration of small turbines

These projects help manufacturers of turbines up to 150 kW peak obtain certification to ANSI/ACP 101-1-2021: The Small Wind Turbine Standard or a list of turbine assemblies or components that meet applicable electrical safety standards.

• NPS Solutions (Darien, Connecticut) will seek certification of the NPS 100C-24-37 turbine under ACP 101-1-2021 and have the system listed on UL 6141.
• Sonsight Wind (Grayson, Georgia) will seek certification of its 3.5 kW turbine to ACP 101-1-2021 and will list the generator, controller and reversing load to electrical safety standards.
• Growth energy (San Diego, California) will seek certification of its 10-kW deployable turbine system to ACP 101-1-2021 and have the system listed on UL 6142.

Type Certification and Listing

These projects help manufacturers of turbines with a rated power up to 1 MW to apply for type certification under the International Electrotechnical Commission’s (IECRE) Certification Scheme for Equipment Standards for Renewable Energy Applications or to list turbine assemblies or their components in accordance with applicable electrical safety standards.

• Chava Wind (Homestead, Florida) will seek IECRE type certification for its 21 kW vertical-axis wind turbine.

List of inverters

These projects respond to the need for certified inverters, built and tested specifically for small and medium-sized wind turbines.

• Eocycle America Corporation (Swanton, Vermont) will seek to list its EOS S-16 turbine on UL 1741-SB.
• EWT America (Bloomington, Minnesota) will seek to list its 1 MW inverter on UL 1741-SB.
• Windsurance LLC (Coraopolis, Pennsylvania) will upgrade its 90 kW inverter to a 120 kW capacity and seek UL 1741-SB certification.

Innovation of the production process

These projects support the design, construction and validation of improved manufacturing processes for specific wind turbine production, leading to lower average cost of energy.

• Bergey Windpower Company (Norman, Oklahoma) will implement advanced blade manufacturing processes to reduce costs and meet growing demand.

Product Commercialization and Market Development

These projects focus specifically on rural and agricultural market opportunities identified in NREL’s 2022 Future of Distributed Wind Energy Study and are designed to remove cost barriers to commercialization and rapid, broad-scale deployment of improved distributed wind technology.

• EWT America (Bloomington, Minnesota) plans to educate customers about the potential of wind turbines in agribusiness, commercial and industrial settings in the windy Midwest.
• Smart Energy Systems (Anchorage, Alaska) plans to remove barriers to investment in distributed wind energy in Alaska.
• Siva Powers America (East Amherst, New York) will address implementation barriers in eight key states by gaining access to rural markets using both the USDA Rural Energy for America program and the Inflation Reduction Act’s Community Energy Tax Bonus.

“The commercialization efforts by Siva Powers America, EWT Americas and Intelligent Energy Systems, in addition to the active CIP projects by Bergey Windpower and Eocycle, will open new markets for distributed wind turbines and help advance the goals of the RAISE Initiative for rural small businesses and farmers,” Summerville said.

Learn more about CIP and sign up for NREL’s Wind Energy Newsletter to receive more news like this.