This is an excerpt from the First Quarter 2013 edition of the Wind Program R&D Newsletter.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will soon release its annual 2012 Market Report on U.S. Wind Technologies in Distributed Applications. This report offers clear data-based market analysis and statistics to provide consumers, policymakers, and industry players with the up-to-date information they need to make informed decisions about distributed wind applications.

The DOE Wind Program defines distributed wind in terms of technology application and the wind turbine's location relative to end use and power distribution infrastructure rather than by turbine or project size. Attributions used by the Wind Program to characterize distributed systems include:

  • Proximity to End Use: Wind turbines installed at or near the point of end use for the purposes of meeting on-site energy demand or supporting the operation of the existing distribution grid
  • Point of Grid Interconnection: Wind turbines connected on the customer side of the meter or directly to the distribution grid or microgrids.

This year's distributed wind report has been expanded to include a finer breakdown of statistics for small wind turbines as well as mid-size and utility-scale turbines in distributed generation applications. Prepared for DOE by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) with contributions from eFormative Options, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the North Carolina Solar Center, and the Distributed Wind Energy Association, this report will be published in June 2013.

Contributors to the report will share information with conference-goers at AWEA's WINDPOWER 2013 Conference & Exhibition in Chicago, May 5-8, 2013. The posters and presentations include:

  • Revealing the Best Financial Policies for On-Site Wind (Poster) — Alice Orrell, PNNL
  • Near-Term Prospects in Community Wind and Distributed Wind Markets (Presentation) — Larry Flowers, AWEA
  • Small Wind Market Trends: Key States and U.S. Workforce Opportunities (Presentation) — Heather Rhoads-Weaver, eFormative Options
  • Can FITs Level the Playing Field? Policy Tools Expanding the Global Distributed Wind Market (Poster) — Matt Gagne, eFormative Options
  • Using the Wind Policy Tool to Examine Potential Feed-In Tariffs in the United States (Poster) — Matt Gagne, eFormative Options

The 2012 Market Report on U.S. Wind Technologies in Distributed Applications will be available for download on the DOE Wind Program website.