CNN: Stimulus May Get Small Wind Turbines Spinning

By William Armsby

The gale force of President Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus package could breathe new life into an emerging industry: small wind turbines.

This 10-kilowatt, 120-foot-tall small wind turbine could fulfill the electricity needs of this household.

 The bill provides a 30 percent investment tax credit to consumers who buy these turbines, which are typically used to help power homes or small businesses.

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.


Unlike the towering windmills sprouting en masse from the Western Plains, small wind turbines have a capacity of 100 kilowatts or less and are designed to operate on the consumer side of the power grid, often in combination with solar panels.  How do small wind turbines work? »

According to the American Wind Energy Association, the United States is already the world’s leading manufacturer of small-wind technologies, holding roughly two-thirds of the world’s market share. Last year, American companies made 98 percent of the small wind turbines sold in the United States.

To conservation-minded home or business owners, the turbines are an investment in clean energy and one way to ease America’s dependence on foreign oil. In the right location, a 10-kilowatt turbine could supply the entire electricity needs of an average American household. The newly subsidized larger models can help power small businesses, farms and schools.

The wind industry is governed by the laws of physics. The higher the wind speed, the faster the turbine spins and the more electricity is produced. Because the output of a wind turbine also tends to increase proportionally with its distance from barriers such as trees or buildings, the most productive — and cost-effective — turbines sit atop tall towers erected on an acre or more of open land.

Despite this rule of thumb, there is a burgeoning movement to bring small-wind power to cities as well.

In San Francisco, California, a volunteer organization called the Urban Wind Task Force has distributed 27 wind-monitoring stations throughout the city to survey sites for potential turbine installations.

‘It is true that doing wind in urban environments is a lot trickier than in rural environments,’ said Johanna Partin, San Francisco’s Renewable Energy Program manager, who also coordinates the task force. ‘But the reason you rarely see [turbines in cities] may be that we just haven’t figured out how to do it yet.’

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made headlines last August when he proposed installing wind turbines atop city bridges and skyscrapers. He later backtracked, saying he wasn’t sure the project was feasible.

Some experts, citing physical and regulatory hurdles, view the urban wind movement as misconceived.

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