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Wind Energy Deployment 

Process and Siting Tools

Suzanne Tegen, NREL

WINDExchange Webinar

February 18, 2015

NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

NREL/PR-5000-63711
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Background on Current Research

• Regardless of cost and performance, some wind projects cannot 

proceed to completion as a result of competing multiple uses or 

“siting considerations.” 

• Even if wind energy projects were unquestionably competitive on 

purely economic grounds, developers would not build in many 

places in the United States due to various non-technical issues.

• Current methods for understanding non-technical issues facing 

wind developers fail to:

o Accurately characterize the costs to the industry from siting 

considerations (as a result of project delays, increased permitting 

times, and failed projects)

o Define the extent of the challenges faced by the industry

o Tell the whole story (make sure “competing uses” are given a voice).

• Wind energy siting issues must be better understood and 

quantified.

Goal: Appropriate wind energy siting
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Research Questions and Method

DOE tasked NREL to depict the wind energy deployment process and to research 

wind energy deployment considerations. Questions:

• How much money and time do developers spend on competing uses? 

• Are there some areas no longer developable due to these siting considerations: 

Radar, public engagement, wildlife (birds and bats)?

NREL:

• Performed in-depth interviews with wind developers and consulting firms

• Aggregated developer data and used it to determine cost adders for model 

runs and impacts to developable land for GIS-based maps

• Created maps of the U.S. wind resource overlaid with different siting 

considerations

• Created supply curves based on real data

• Used supply curves as inputs to ReEDS scenario modeling (to 2050)

• Consulted with developers to make sure our conclusions match what they 

meant to convey

• Is currently finishing an NREL technical report on results.
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Wind Deployment Process
Desktop Review 

of Important 

Parameters

Are 

there 

fatal 

flaws? 

I. PROSPECTING

Review 

another 

site

Discard 

Project 

(“dead on 

arrival”)

Hold

Save for 

Future 

Consideration

YES NO

II. EARLY DEVELOPMENT

Any new 

unresolvable 

issues? Or 

unacceptable 

changes to project 

economics or 

timeline?

YES NO

OR

OR

III. INTERMEDIATE 

DEVELOPMENT

Any new 

unresolvable 

issues? 

YES

NO

OR

IV. ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT

YES

• Fulfill pre-construction environmental obligations

• Obtain building permits

• Groundbreaking

• Turbine erection and commissioning

• Ongoing public outreach

• Ongoing operational forecasting

• Environmental monitoring and reporting compliance

V. CONSTRUCTION & OPERATIONS

• Site visit and acquisition

• Initial data collection 

• Communication with 

agencies and stakeholders

NO

• Project design

• Project financing

• Equipment procurement

• Ongoing issue resolution

• Active permitting and 

negotiations (land use, PPA, 

wildlife, construction, 

interconnection, transportation)

• Continued monitoring and data 

collection

• Perform portion of required 

studies

• Complete resource and 

financial modeling efforts

• Ongoing issue resolution

Any remaining 

issues that alter 

project economics 

or timeline?
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Development timeline ranges vary greatly. Reducing project timeline uncertainty, even 

without reducing the actual timeline, could greatly benefit developers and accelerate 

appropriately sited wind deployment.

Development Time Horizon Is 5+ Years

• The typical project is planned on a 5-year time horizon.

o 12 years is the maximum we’ve heard; however, given the market, it is increasingly 

difficult to justify a project timeline of more than 5 years. 

o Interconnection alone can require 3 to 4 years. 

o Timelines are likely extended if:

– Projects include post-construction work (additional 2-4 years)

– NEPA or state processes are triggered (additional years - unknown)

– Land management plans require revision (additional 1-2 years)

– Litigious opponents are present (additional 1-2+ years).

• FWS guidance indicates movement toward longer lead times and more 

up-front data collection. As a result, some developers are reluctant to 

develop on federal land.

• More time required for permitting = higher capital investment.
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Tools and Resources for Wind 

Energy Siting Decisions
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Wind Prospector

http://maps.nrel.gov/wind_prospector

Purpose

The purpose of this work is to make GIS-based data layers available 

to DOE, other agencies, wind energy stakeholders, and the 

interested public. Data are overlaid onto wind resource maps of the 

United States to visually display where siting issues are located, in 

relation to areas with good wind energy potential. 

Objective for Wind Prospector

Wind Prospector provides data, visualization, querying, and analysis 

capabilities that allow users to explore many factors at a site that 

affect project development potential. Examples include land 

ownership, proximity of transmission lines, available wind resources, 

permitting stipulations, and exploration activities.
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Wind Prospector
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System Advisor Model (SAM) System Advisor Model

SAM can display 

information from the 

Wind Prospector as 

“Siting Considerations”
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Other Resources

There are helpful sites like the USGS 

wind turbine map, showing almost 

every utility-scale turbine in the 

country (above): 

http://eerscmap.usgs.gov/windfarm/

Important: It is vital to confer with all 

appropriate federal agencies, such as the 

Environmental Protection Agency and 

Department of Defense, when developing a 

project: 

http://www.acq.osd.mil/dodsc/

See OpenEI for Wind Project Siting Tools and 

Resources

http://en.openei.org/wiki/Wind_Project_Siting_Tools

http://en.openei.org/wiki/Siting_Wind_Energy

USGS Wind Turbine Map

Argonne National 

Laboratory’s EISPC: 

http://eispctools.anl.gov
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Federal Land Overlaid with Wind Resource
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Thank you.

Suzanne Tegen

Suzanne.Tegen@nrel.gov