Distributed Wind Energy Shows Promise for Microgrids

When it comes to renewable energy, distributed wind – e.g., smaller (1 kilowatt to 1 megawatt) turbines installed at schools, ranches, etc. – has been muscled out by solar power.  Some of the reasons for this include unclear regulatory policy, turbine noise, negative impact on local aesthetics, and a lack of economies of scale at the manufacturing level. 

These market forces have caused two distributed wind turbine manufacturers in the U.S. to shut down.  Meanwhile, larger manufacturers are focusing on large-turbine manufacturing.  The result has been a stagnation in the market.

Can Microgrids Save Distributed Wind?

Although the distributed wind sector is down, it’s not out.  A few things are in play that could help resurrect the industry:

• The DOE, under its Competitive Improvement Project (CIP), recently increased R&D funding to a handful of small-turbine manufacturers.
• Recent innovations in the sector will make smaller turbines cheaper to make, leading to higher production and delivering economies of scale to manufacturers.
• Distributed wind is a clean energy source, which society as a whole is pushing in an effort to combat global warming.

In addition, the number of microgrids across the U.S. is on the rise, offering an avenue for the distributed wind market to exploit.  In fact, one of the companies using CIP funding (XFlow) is developing a 20-kW wind turbine for remote microgrid applications, which can be setup in a single day and used as an onsite power source or backup source.  And other companies are working on similar concepts. 

That said, the microgrid application is in its infancy, as only 57 out of 3,000 U.S. microgrids use wind power.  This is likely because power based on fuel or the sun is much more reliable, so continuing innovation will be necessary. 

The bottom line is that, while promising, microgrids are not yet a slam dunk to save distributed wind.  Hopefully the sector will innovate to the point where smaller wind turbines can be deployed in more locations, because energy source diversity is a great way to boost reliability and backstop utility emergency preparedness efforts.