Small Wind Set To Explode?

Small wind is poised to get a significant boost from President Barack Obama and his $787 billion economic stimulus package. Obama and others have been advocating that the energy crisis and economic crisis may have a common solution: start utilizing alternative energy sources with made in the USA technologies.

Included in the package is a 30 percent investment tax credit for consumers who purchase small wind turbines to power their homes and/or small businesses. This will encourage increased investment in the small wind technologies which are almost exclusively manufacturered in the US.

An atricle in CNN recently cited industry experts who are extremely optimistic about these latest developments.

From the article:

Even amid a recession, this tax credit "is going to blow the top off the market," said Ron Stimmel, a "small-wind" advocate with the American Wind Energy Association.

The association predicts the federal subsidy could help the small-turbine market grow by 40 to 50 percent annually, a boost that would parallel the growth of the U.S. solar photovoltaic industry after a similar 2005 initiative.

Background

Small wind is defined as any turbine that generates 100 kWh of electricity or less. The amount of electricity is generally tied to the wind speed and the size of the the turbine blades. An example in the article from CNN stated that a 10 kW turbine in a location with decent wind speeds could supply enough electricity to power an average American home.

Just to give a rough idea of the costs involved, a 10 kW turbine is currently available on Amazon.com for $23,902.00. There would be additional costs to get this up and running if you require the assistance of a professional installer, but let's assume you're going to install it yourself. The total savings would be $7,170.60 which is a subtantial improvement over the $4000 cap that was in place before the tax credit was expanded.

Key Points

• 30% tax credit on all small wind turbines (less than 100 kW)
• credit now applies to installed cost rather than purchase cost as it was defined before
• $2,400 cap per turbine has been removed
• $4,000 total cap has also been removed
• States have also implemented rebates for small wind systems which can be used in addition to the Federal credit.

Resources

SkyStream has a useful FAQ and great overall resources on their site if you need more information: http://www.windenergy.com/news/news_tax_2-09.html.

Here's the link to the full article from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/03/09/small.wind.turbines/.

Interested in residential wind power? Considered building your own turbine?
You can get started with today with Power4Home.

More Innovation That Could Impact The Residential Wind Power Industry

In a follow-up to yesterday's post New approach to residential wind power, I've discovered more innovation in the industry.

The Venture Country Star ran a story a couple of weeks ago called: Developers trying to harness Earth's energy in new way. The article explains that an inventor from Santa Barbara in the U.S. has developed a unique approach to capturing various forms of renewable energy such as wind energy and wave energy.

The inventor's name is Gene Kelly and his newly-formed company has dubbed it's initial wind product the 'WindWing'. Here's an excerpt explaining the premise.

While most wind turbines these days are built as propellers, Gene Kelley is convinced that wings are a better answer for capturing wind energy. Though the physics and work that has gone into his invention can get complex, the underlying concept of his "WindWing" is basic enough for a child to understand.

Anyone who has stuck a hand out of a car window has felt how the WindWing works. As the hand is tilted upward, the wind pushes the hand up. As it tilts downward, the wind pushes it down.

The resulting up-and-down motion, or oscillation, is what gives the WindWing its power.

Kelly has applied for a patent that is pending approval and a prototype of the product has been developed. He claims the WindWing will be more efficient in generating power at one-tenth the cost of traditional propeller-based wind turbines. If his new company can bring such a product to market, the residential wind power industry would see quite a shake-up as small-scale wind energy would be much more attractive to the average consumer.

Interested in residential wind power? Considered building your own turbine?
You can get started with today with Power4Home.