The US Energy Department has announced six new contracts totaling US$ 1.49 million awarded by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory under the DOE-funded Distributed Wind Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP).
CIP Round 5 contracts were awarded to the following U.S. distributed wind manufacturers and component suppliers:
- Bergey Windpower Company will seek to reduce the levelised cost of energy (LCOE) from its small wind turbine 11% by developing a standardised 30-meter self-supporting lattice tower with a foundation that does not require concrete. Bergey will also improve its cable and electronics design to reduce installation costs of the Bergey Excel 15 wind turbine system.
- Intergrid of Temple will seek to reduce LCOE 11% by integrating and certifying the many turbine electrical and control components required for a complete wind turbine installation into a "1-box" approach, while adding an energy storage option for wind turbines with a power rating up to 20kW.
- Northern Power Systems will seek to reduce LCOE 14% by developing a larger rotor design, expanding from 24 to 32 meters in diameter, for the NPS 100 windturbine system.
- SonSight Wind of Grayson will conduct prototype testing of its low wind speed, 3kW wind turbine design. Efforts will focus on improving power performance and safety and function testing, as well as control system testing for optimisation of its furling design which regulates how the turbine operates in high winds.
- Star Wind Turbines will test its 5-bladed, 10kW wind turbine system design to national performance and safety standards with the goal of achieving product certification and verify their levelized cost projections.
- Xzeres Wind Corp will seek to reduce LCOE by over 25% by developing a microgrid-compatible turbine controller engineered for increased performance and integration with emerging distributed energy resource technologies. The components of the controller system will be consolidated into a single enclosure.
