To help meet the US needs, eight small businesses will develop wind technology as a cost-effective, reliable, and compatible distributed energy resource under the 2021 round of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP).
The 2021 CIP selectees are expected to share about $2.2 million in DOE funding and leverage about $1.3 million of industry cost share. They are:
- Accelerate Wind Inc. (St. Louis, Missouri) will develop a modular 5-kilowatt (kW) horizontal axis wind turbine with integrated solar, which is designed to be deployed on the edges of commercial buildings. The project will take the concept from a preliminary design stage to a test-ready, preproduction prototype.
- Bergey Windpower (Norman, Oklahoma) will implement several design and manufacturing changes to the Excel 15 wind turbine generator, lowering its cost by 26% and leading to an 8% reduction in total wind turbine manufacturing cost.
- Intergrid LLC (Temple, New Hampshire) will develop and implement improved simulation and testing capabilities to allow faster and lower-cost certification of upgrades to the Intergrid IG-25, a 25-kW programmable inverter.
- Pecos Wind Power (Somerville, Massachusetts) will develop the first full-scale prototype of an 85-kW wind turbine designed for low-wind-speed sites. Pecos will also install this turbine at the Renewable Concepts factory in Neodesha, Kansas, for initial prototype testing and evaluation.
- Siva Powers America Inc. (Ransomville, New York) will develop new, lighter-weight 14.4-meter blades for its existing 250-kW turbine. This will extend the rotor diameter to 35 meters and boost energy production, reduce electricity costs, and increase access to lower wind-speed sites.
- Sonsight Wind (Grayson, Georgia) will test a new 3.5-kW wind turbine prototype designed for residential, small commercial-scale, and remote hybrid energy system applications.
- Windurance LLC (Coraopolis, Pennsylvania) will design, test, and obtain third-party certification of a programmable control system for wind turbines. The controller operates the turbine’s mechanical and electrical systems and is designed for 85-kW to over 150-kW wind turbine models.
- Xflow Energy Company (Seattle, Washington) will conduct prototype testing of a 25-kW vertical axis wind turbine designed for isolated microgrids and remote communities. The project builds on previous CIP and DOE Small Business Innovation Research awards and will bring this new, low-cost turbine closer to commercial viability.