Testing Small Wind Turbines at NREL's NWTC (Presentation)
Reducing barriers to wind energy expansion, stabilizing the market, and expanding the number of small wind turbine (SWT) systems installed in the United States are important goals for the Department of Energy's (DOE) Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program. One of the barriers for the distributed wind market is the lack of SWT systems that are independently tested and certified. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has testing capabilities that are accredited by the American Association of Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA). Currently, NREL is one of only two facilities in the United States that are A2LA accredited. To help industry provide consumers with more certified SWT systems, DOE/NREL launched a project in 2007 called Independent Testing. Through a competitive solicitation, NREL selected four commercially available SWT systems to test in 2008/2009. The turbines will be tested to standards adopted by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and in compliance with the draft American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) standards for small wind turbine systems. The resultant test data may be used by the Small Wind Certification Council (SWCC), a nonprofit organization formed with support from DOE, AWEA, state energy offices, and turbine manufacturers to certify SWT systems. Certification by the SWCC is expected to commence in 2009. Test data could also be submitted to a certifying body as partial input for international certification. SWTs that are tested and certified will give consumers greater confidence that the systems they install will perform within specified wind regimes as advertised by the manufacturer.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 1022370
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Proceedings of the Solar 2008 Conference, 3-8 May 2008, San Diego, California (CD-ROM); Including Proceedings of 37th ASES Annual Conference, Proceedings of 33rd National Passive Solar Conference, and Proceedings of the 3rd Renewable Energy Policy and Marketing Conference
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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