Competitive keep America: reduce the cost of small wind turbines

How we stay global wind competitive on the energy market? An important component is the leadership in the production of small wind turbines – these are rated at 100 kilowatts or less.

In the past, the leading manufacturer of small wind turbines, was the United States contribute, stimulate economic growth and create jobs. U.S. small wind manufacturer report with 80-85 percent domestic content in their turbines and the small wind industry provides an estimated 1,600 American jobs. Still, in the increasingly competitive global wind market - our leadership in this area is long is not guaranteed.

Maintain its leading international position for United States manufacturer of small wind turbines, the Department of energy we invest in two projects, led by Maine in Pika energy and Oklahoma Bergey Windpower company - small wind turbine competitiveness improvement project. This initiative supports manufacturers in their efforts to reduce the cost of energy from small turbines by improving their components and upgrade their production processes. To read the full report, see the energy blog.

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Turbines off NYC East River Will Power 9,500 Homes

As part of the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project, 30 turbines are being installed along the strait that connects the Long Island Sound with the Atlantic Ocean in the New York Harbor. The project, led by Verdant Power, Inc., is the first ever commercially licensed tidal energy project in the United States. The turbines are scheduled to be fully installed by 2015 and will use the flow of the East River and tides to generate 1,050 kilowatts of electricity—enough to power 9,500 New York homes.

The turbines will also collect important data about environmental impacts on fish and river sediment and provide jobs to a team of technicians who will maintain and monitor the equipment.

DOE helps advance water power technologies by funding research to determine the size of the water resource and by developing innovative technologies to unleash its energy potential. The department began providing Verdant Power with funding in 2008 to improve the turbines’ blade design. Verdant had been successfully developing and testing turbine prototypes in the East River since 2002, but those turbine rotors were not durable enough to be scaled up for commercialization. With the DOE assistance, Verdant designed and tested new blades, which are stronger and more reliable—allowing them to capture more energy from faster currents at greater depths and at a lower cost. Read the complete story in the DOE Energy Blog.

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