About Small and Community Wind
As wind energy grows towards a 20% wind market share, wind farms are changing the landscape across America, physically and economically. Local stakeholders and consumers want to play an bigger role in the use and development of wind energy. Individual landowners have a personal interest in the success of this industry and are looking for ways to maximize the value of wind for themselves and their communities. Local communities, including agricultural and rural economic development interests, can help build the industry's success in their own backyards.
Small Wind
Small wind turbines are electric generators - those with capacities of 100 kW1 and under - that utilize wind energy to produce clean, emissions-free power for individual homes, farms, and small businesses. With this simple and increasingly popular technology, individuals can generate their own power and cut their energy bills while helping to protect the environment.
To learn the basics about how small wind technology works, click here.
To see some Frequently Asked Questions regarding Small Wind, click here.
Click here to visit the AWEA Small Wind Website.
The Small Wind Market
The US market for small wind turbines grew 78% in 2008 with an additional 17.3 MW of installed capacity. This growth is largely attributable to increased private equity investment that allowed manufacturing volumes to increase, particularly for the commercial segment of the market (systems 21-100kW). The largest segment of the market is still residential (1-10kW), which was driven by investment and manufacturing economies of scale, but also by rising residential electricity prices and a heightened public awareness of the technology and its attributes. The industry projects 30-fold growth within as little as five years, despite a global recession, for a cumulative US installed capacity of 1,700 MW by the end of 2013. Much of this estimated growth will be spurred by the new eight-year 30% federal Investment Tax Credit passed by Congress in October 2008 and augmented in February 2009.Click here to see the 2009 AWEA Small Wind Global Market Study.
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Community Wind
Community ownership of wind turbines contributes most significantly to local economic development benefits. Essentially, Community Wind means that one or more members of the local community - farmers, schools, colleges, tribal governments, municipal utilities, local businesses, and rural electric cooperatives - have a significant financial stake in a wind project project. These wind projects are designed for bulk power generation and sale to a utility company or large electricity user and can supply enough energy to serve several hundred or thousands of homes. When wind is developed locally, the economic, social, and environmental advantages accrue to local farmers, landowners, and other members of the community.Community Wind projects have some or all of the following characteristics:
- The economic benefits that flow to the community are greater than from typical land lease payments, construction and operations jobs and increased local tax base in commercial projects;
- The community has a significant amount of control over management of the project, possibly including voting rights, especially regarding matters of greatest importance to the community;
- There are opportunities for members of the community to have a direct financial stake in the project, with an appropriate share of both the risks and rewards of such investments;
- Project sizes most typically in the range of 5-20 MW, although they can range both higher and lower;
- They may employ a variety of ownership and financing structures which have features designed to accommodate the goals of the community with respect to financial and management participation;
- A genuine sense of community involvement.
Some of this information is provided through a partnership with Windustry, and we encourage you to check out the many resources available to evaluate the possibilites of utilizing Community Wind. Click here for detailed information about how Community Wind works, its benefits, and its challenges. AWEA has a Community Wind Working Group actively looking at issues to explore the needs and actions for growth of this sector.
For more information, please Click here
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Additional ResourcesAWEA Wind Basics Factsheets: http://www.awea.org/pubs/factsheets.html
National Wind Coordinating Committee
Wildlife/Wind Publications: http://www.nationalwind.org/publications/wildlife.htm
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Wind Energy Myths & Facts: http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy05osti/37657.pdf
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