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BUILDING TOWARD A SMALL WIND TURBINE

SITE ASSESSOR CREDENTIAL

Small Wind Installers Conference 2013

Stevens Point, Wisconsin

Karin Sinclair

18 June 2013

NREL/PR-5000-60183
2

Background 

To support the growth of the small wind industry in 

the United States, a three-pronged approach was 

identified, which includes: 

A Bergey 10-kilowatt (kW) wind turbine. Photo by Northwest Seed, NREL 

13162

1. Certification of small

wind turbines (e.g., Small 

Wind Certification 

Council, Intertek, 

Microgeneration 

Certification Scheme)
3

Background (Continued)

2. Develop a small wind turbine 

installer certification program 

(currently suspended by the 

North American Board of 

Certified Energy Practitioners; 

future host TBD)

3. Develop a small 

wind site assessor 

certification program 

(deferred based on last year’s 

input; future host TBD)

A Skystream wind turbine. Photo by Southwest Windpower, NREL 

15337
4

Small Wind Site Assessor Best Practice Manual

The purpose of the best practice 

manual is to provide:

• A stop-gap to certification

• A resource for state incentive 

managers (i.e., Interstate Turbine 

Advisory Council, or others)

• A resource for consumers

What the manual is NOT:

• Training for site assessment 

(although it could be a resource 

for a training program)

An Entegrity Wind Systems EW50 turbine. Photo 

by Lee Jay Fingersh, NREL 16390
5

Proposed Content

• Introduction

o Overview

o Importance

o Skills, training, and 

experience

An ARE 442 10-kW wind turbine. Photo by Jeroen van 

Dam, NREL 17818
6

Content (Continued)

• Methods and Best Practices

o Wind prospecting and validation

o Wind measurement

o Obstacles and displacement height 

o Wind characteristics and analysis

o Interconnection, grid-tie, and off- grid systems

o Environmental

o Turbine and tower selection 

o Operations and maintenance plan 

o Micrositing

o Performance estimation

o Economics and incentives

o Other issues: zoning, permitting, 

soils, hazards, aviation, customer, 

policy, energy efficiency, and 

building integration 

An 11-kW Gaia small wind turbine. Photo by Lee Jay 

Fingersh, NREL 17523
7

Content (Continued)

• Report

• Conclusions

• References

• Appendices

• Glossary

• Case Studies

• Checklist A Bergey 10-kW turbine at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center in 

Pennsylvania that was damaged in a storm. Photo by Lisa Adams, NREL 26432
8

Case Studies/Lessons Learned

Purpose: 

• To provide 

examples where 

site assessment 

played a role in a 

project not 

performing as 

expected

• To provide 

examples of 

lessons learned

Poor site selection caused this residential Bergey 10-kW turbine to 

underperform significantly. Photo by Abigail Krich, NREL 13495
9

Next Steps

During the SWC: 

What: Engage Small Wind 

Conference attendees in a 

brainstorming session to 

develop the best practice 

manual content outline 

When: Thursday, June 20, from 

1:00–3:00 p.m.

Who: Contact Karin Sinclair or 

Tim Olsen

A Northern Power Northwind 100A wind turbine. Photo 

by Lee Jay Fingersh, NREL 16392
10

Next Steps (Continued) 

After SWC 2013:

• Identify and work with experts team

• Develop draft outline

• Develop draft manual

• Review draft manual (expert team)

• Revise draft manual

• Conduct final review of manual 

(including experts)

• Develop final best practice manual

• Project Timeline: Draft Final: 

September 30, 2013; Final: December 

30, 2013

• Source: NREL small wind website; 

publicly available. Consider OpenEI.

Poorly sited AOC 65-kW turbines in Tutu, St. 

Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Photo by Owen 

Roberts, NREL 23839
Contacts:

Karin Sinclair – NREL

Karin.sinclair@nrel.gov

(303) 384-6946

Tim Olsen – Advanced Energy Systems, LLC

tolsen@windtechnology.com

(303) 777-3341

Frank Oteri – NREL

Frank.oteri@nrel.gov

(303) 384-6952
12

Discussion Questions

During this session, the following questions were 

discussed with the SWC attendees:

1. What do small wind installers want in terms of a 

certifying organization (assuming there is 

interest for a installer certification)?

2. What do small wind site assessors want 

(assuming there is interest for a site assessor 

certification)?