The awards represent the fourth round of funding under DoE’s Distributed Wind Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP), which intends to help manufacturers of small and mid-size wind turbines enhance their design and manufacturing processes as they work toward certification.
Two companies will receive around $50,000 each to carry out certification testing of turbines with a rotor-swept area less than 200 sq m.
Primus Wind Power will conduct certification testing on its 400-W AIR30 model turbine, while Oklahoma-based Bergey Windpower will undertake testing on the Bergey Excel 15 turbine.
Two awardees were selected in the Type Certification category, which is dedicated to turbines with rotor-swept areas between 200 and 1,000 square meters.
Northern Power Systems will receive $447,000 to carry out type certification testing on its NPS100-24/37m IEC Class IIIA model wind turbine.
Endurance Wind Power will receive $450,000 to undertake type certification testing on its model X35 225-kilowatt wind turbine.
The awardees are required complete their projects within an 18-month period of performance.
NREL is the US DOE’s primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. The Alliance for Sustainable Energy operates the NREL for the energy department.
