Twelve American Companies Will Help Expand Distributed Wind Across the Rural United States

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced plans to award $3.15 million to 12 American component suppliers and manufacturers of small- and medium-sized wind turbines as a part of the 2024 Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP). These selections will advance distributed wind turbine technology through testing and commercialization, providing more certified technology options for clean energy deployment.

"DOE is working to ensure that farmers, rural small businesses, and electric cooperatives have more options for affordable, safe, and reliable clean energy systems,” said Jeff Marootian, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. “These investments in projects to expand rural distributed wind will also support U.S. energy independence, a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris Administration’s clean energy goals.”

DOE-funded projects are spurring the innovations required for distributed wind energy technologies, which are deployed close to the end consumer, to be used in emerging modular power generation markets. Managed by NREL on behalf of DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO), CIP is designed to make distributed wind energy technologies more cost competitive, reliable, grid-compatible, and accessible. Once these 2024 contracts are finalized, DOE will have awarded 77 subcontracts to 30 companies, totaling $18.5 million in funding while leveraging $11.2 million in additional private-sector investment since CIP began in 2012.

Selected companies will receive cost-shared subcontracts and technical support from NREL. The 2024 selections include both former CIP awardees and several that are new to the program—including the manufacturer of a 1-megawatt wind turbine, which is the largest turbine that can qualify for CIP funding, as well as a vertical-axis wind turbine manufacturer and an Alaska-based developer.