The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), with funding from DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office, works with dozens of small business across the United States to advance wind technology as a distributed energy resource through the Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP). Today, DOE announces eight new CIP projects that will make distributed wind energy more cost competitive, improve its interoperability with other distributed energy resources, and increase the number of small and mid-scale wind turbine designs certified to national testing standards.

Launched in 2013, the CIP supports manufacturers of distributed wind technology—typically small and medium scale wind turbines—through competitively-awarded, cost-shared projects aiming to: 1) optimize designs for increased energy production and grid support; 2) test turbines and components to national standards to verify performance and safety; and 3) develop advanced manufacturing processes to reduce hardware costs. Beyond funding support, awardees can receive technical assistance from NREL to improve their turbine designs and testing plans. Since 2013, NREL has awarded 36 subcontracts to 20 companies, totaling $7.75 million of funding, while leveraging $3.79 million in additional private-sector investment. Today’s selections add $2.6 million in DOE funding, bringing the total DOE commitment to over $10 million, and leveraging over $5 million in industry cost-share.

"The Competitiveness Improvement Project has advanced the state of distributed wind technology in the United States, reducing the cost of some designs by more than 50%. CIP also supports the electrical, performance, and safety certifications of next-generation technologies, which is important for competitive market entry and export," said Daniel Simmons, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at DOE.

The projects selected through the most recent CIP solicitation continue the trends of developing turbines with larger rotors and advanced controls integrated with energy storage.