Washington, DC - Today at the Distributed Wind Energy Association's (DWEA's) Distributed Wind 2018 Business Conference, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) released the latest request for proposals under the Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP) for distributed wind energy. The CIP, supported by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Wind Energy Technologies Office, aims to facilitate the development of next-generation, U.S. manufactured small and mid-size wind turbine technology by awarding cost shared contracts for system design optimization, advanced manufacturing, and turbine testing.
Previous CIP solicitations have resulted in numerous success stories, which are detailed in a new program fact sheet. The most recent success of CIP involves the first certification milestone achieved by an awardee in the turbine testing program. The Primus Air40 wind turbine model, manufactured by Primus Wind Power of Lakewood, Colorado, achieved certification in February 2018. Turbine certification requires third-party verified structural review and testing for safety and function, performance, and durability to national standards. Certification of wind turbines helps consumers identify products that have proven performance and filter out untested products and exaggerated marketing claims.
Primus Wind Power is a leading supplier of micro wind turbines, providing off-grid turbines with peak power of 160 and 400-watts. Primus' turbines are typically installed to power remote assets that are not connected to a central electricity grid (e.g. oil and gas platforms, telecom towers, homes, and military equipment). Additionally, Primus is also conducting certification testing of its Air30 model with support awarded under CIP.
NREL is currently accepting applications under six topics areas:
- Pre-Prototype System or Component Research and Development
- Component Improvement and Overall System Optimization
- Prototype Testing
- Certification Testing (for turbines with rotor-swept area under 200 square meters)
- Type Certification (for turbines with rotor-swept area between 200 and 1,000 square meters)
- Manufacturing Process Upgrades
Proposals are due March 28 by 4 p.m. Eastern Time.
For more information on Wind Energy Technologies Office funding opportunities, visit the office's Financial Opportunities Web page.
To learn more about DOE's research in wind energy technologies, please visit energy.gov/eere/wind.
