Return on investment is key and our program helps you take advantage of the Federal Investment Tax Credit, Bonus Depreciation, and selling surplus energy.
Considering a renewable energy source like small wind turbine? It’s important for agri-business, commercial and industrial operation owners to be aware that the U.S. Department of Energy has made available a Federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) to help off-set initial small wind turbine installation costs.
The ITC is worth 30% of the total installed price of your wind turbine project. What’s more, no qualifications are required to be eligible.
If you are interested in reducing your federal taxes, installing a wind turbine is a perfect solution. Even if you paid in money to the government for 2011 taxes, you could qualify for a credit by amending your tax return and receive a credit.
To learn more, contact us toll free at 1-877-946-3775and we will be happy to provide all the details.
On January 24, 2012, AWEA issued a press release stating that several media outlets were reporting that President Obama would mention wind power and manufacturing jobs in his State of the Union address this evening, including reports that Bryan Ritterby of American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) member company Energetx Composites of Holland, MI will be First Lady Michelle Obama’s guest for the speech.
This would mark the fifth time wind power has been mentioned in the SOTU in the last decade, by President George W. Bush in 2006 and 2007 and previously by President Obama in 2009 and 2011.
Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), issued the following statement that day as background for reporters covering the speech.
“Wind energy is one of the few sources of agreement in a divided Washington. But with an expiration of wind’s key federal incentive, the Production Tax Credit (PTC), looming at the end of the year, these good manufacturing jobs are in peril.
Wind energy has installed more than a third of all new electric generation in this country in recent years and is powering one of America’s fastest growing manufacturing sectors. Over the last six years, U.S. domestic production of wind turbine components has grown 12-fold, to more than 400 facilities in 43 states. And with stable tax policy wind power is poised to grow to almost 100,000 jobs in just four years and stay on track toward supporting 500,000 jobs by 2030 according to forecasts by the George W. Bush administration.
Wind power is on schedule to generate 20 percent of America’s electricity by 2030 and already generates 20 percent of the electricity in Iowa and South Dakota. And this success story is spreading all across the U.S.
However, with uncertainty over the PTC, layoffs have already begun and studies have forecast they will increase with each month we near expiration.
Fortunately, a growing bipartisan coalition understands this urgency. Political and business leaders including more than a dozen Republican cosponsors and groups like the National Association of Manufacturers, Edison Electric Institute and American Farm Bureau Federation realize that wind power is not a Republican or Democratic issue, it is a manufacturing jobs issue. Extending the PTC will keep these good American manufacturing jobs here and keep providing a new source of clean, affordable energy to American consumers.”
Source: AWEA
Link to article from AWEA’s site.
#1: Can I use wind energy to power my home?
It’s a common question being asked across the country as more people look for affordable and reliable sources of electricity.
Small wind electric systems can make a significant contribution to our nation’s energy needs. Although wind turbines large enough to provide a significant portion of the electricity needed by the average U.S. home generally require one acre of property or more, approximately 21 million U.S. homes are built on one-acre and larger sites, and 24% of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (USDE).
The USDE states that a small wind electric system will work for you if:
#2: Why Should I Choose Wind?
Wind energy systems are one of the most cost-effective home-based renewable energy systems. Depending on your wind resource, a small wind energy system can lower your electricity bill by 50% to 90%, according to USDE, help you avoid the high costs of extending utility power lines to remote locations, prevent power interruptions, and it is non-polluting.
#3: How Do Wind Turbines Work?
We addressed this question in previous posts, but what follows is a nice viewpoint from the U.S. Department of Energy: “The unequal heating of the Earth’s surface creates wind by the sun. Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy in wind into mechanical power that runs a generator to produce clean electricity. Today’s turbines are versatile modular sources of electricity. Their blades are aerodynamically designed to capture the maximum energy from the wind. The wind turns the blades, which spin a shaft connected to a generator that makes electricity.”
To learn more about these issues, we encourage you to read “Small Wind Electric Systems: A U.S. Consumer’s Guide” by the U.S. Department of Energy. It’s a great resource about small wind electric systems, which can help you decide if wind energy is right for you.
According to the American Wind Energy Association, America’s small wind turbine industry saw substantial growth in 2010, highlighted by a 26 percent expansion in the market for small wind systems with 25.6 megawatts (MW) of capacity added, as well as a robust increase in sales revenue. Nearly 8,000 small wind units were sold last year, reported the AWEA, totaling $139 million in sales.
With electricity producing wind power from wind turbines fast being viewed as smart investments by landowners of home, farms and business, the benefits of wind energy are becoming more evident and rightly so. Wind energy is clean, renewable and predictable. It’s also efficient, lowers overhead costs and has major federal government incentives.
The simplicity of their designs is nothing short of a modern marvel. Modern wind turbines generate electricity through two basic designs: vertical-axis or “egg-beater” style or horizontal-axis (propeller-style) machines. Horizontal-axis wind turbines are most common today, constituting nearly all of the “utility-scale” (100 kilowatts (kW) and larger) turbines on the global market. Their wind turbine towers are also quite sturdy and generally made out of tubular steel. The blades and nacelle (generator housing) are made of fiberglass-reinforced polyester or wood-epoxy.
In terms of their size, utility-scale wind turbines for land-based wind farms have rotor diameters ranging from about 50 meters to about 90 meters, and with towers of roughly the same size. A 90-meter machine would have a total height from the tower base to the tip of the rotor of approximately 135 meters (442 feet). Offshore turbine designs generally have larger rotors—with some of the largest having a 110-meter rotor diameter—because it is easier to transport large rotor blades by ship than by land. Small wind turbines intended for residential or small business use are much smaller. Most have rotor diameters of eight meters or less, and they would be mounted on towers of 40 meters in height or less.
The science behind wind turbine functionality is equally impressive and easy to understand. A wind energy system transforms the kinetic energy of wind into what’s called “mechanical or electrical energy” that can be harnessed for practical use. Mechanical energy is most commonly used for pumping water in rural or remote locations – the “farm windmill” still seen in many rural areas of the U.S. is usually a mechanical wind-powered pump, but it can also be used for other purposes such as grinding grain, sawing or pushing a sailboat.
The first step to any successful wind turbine project is to understand all the options available. It should begin with a full feasibility study and analysis, detailing the wind speed potential at your specific site. Like with most large equipment purchases, financing plays an important role. What lenders like most about wind turbine financing is that the cash flow they produce can pay all or most of the turbine payment. Additionally, wind turbines have a long proven useful life of 20 years and they maintain a high residual value, even at the end of their initial useful life.
Through education and knowledge, you can learn how to best use wind energy to help control and predict your future costs while setting the green energy standard in your community. Go green!
For those who want to go briefly under the hood of how a wind turbine works. Consider this brief post.
A wind energy system transforms the kinetic energy of wind into what’s called “mechanical or electrical energy” that can be harnessed for practical use. Mechanical energy is most commonly used for pumping water in rural or remote locations – the “farm windmill” still seen in many rural areas of the U.S. is usually a mechanical wind-powered pump, but it can also be used for other purposes (grinding grain, sawing, pushing a sailboat, etc.).
Modern wind turbines generate electricity for homes, businesses and utilities. And there are two basic designs of wind electric turbines:
1) Vertical-axis or “egg-beater” style
2) Horizontal-axis (propeller-style) machines
Note, horizontal-axis wind turbines are most common today, constituting nearly all of the “utility-scale” (100 kilowatts (kW) and larger) turbines in the global market.
An extra side note, wind turbines are quite sturdy. The towers are usually made out of tubular steel. The blades and nacelle (generator housing) are made of fiberglass-reinforced polyester or wood-epoxy.
If you have any questions, please feel free to post them below.
Excelsior, MN-based Renewable Energy SD, the Upper Midwest’s leading provider of wind turbine consultation, sales and development services, launched a new website today – http://www.renewableenergysd.com – featuring a new creative design, enhanced wind turbine photography, and optimized user-friendly navigation.
The site is centered around four main areas of focus for Renewable Energy SD along with a section that allows a site visitor to learn how powerful their wind speed is:
Renewable Energy SD is committed to supporting and strengthening individual, local economies as well as green initiatives while increasing the energy independence of the United States. Their turn-key solutions deliver renewable energy independence through wind power to landowners, municipalities, schools and businesses.
Excelsior-based Renewable Energy SD helps companies and municipalities across the Midwest harvest wind energy.
By Shannon Slatton Schwartz, Lake Minnetonka Magazine
The wind has always whistled across Warren Krohn’s 700-acre family farm in Nicollet County. Recently the farmer decided to do something about it. Six windmills now stand 160 feet tall on or near his family’s land. When the turbines spin, the wind becomes what Krohn sees as a new cash crop. “When the wind blows now, we have free energy,” he says.
At one time, windmills were a part of most every family farm. “There’s hardly a farm around here that didn’t have a windmill that pumped water years ago,” Krohn says. As electric lines started reaching rural areas, the windmills disappeared. Now, Krohn says bringing them back is much like introducing a new herd to his land.
“I think every farmer around here should be looking at it,” he says. “It’s like putting up another sow barn, steer barn or a new crop in a field. It is a way of getting income and farming.” The electricity that Krohn produces generates energy and money for his farm. “The energy is there. It’s just sitting and waiting to be harnessed,” he says. Read Full Story>>
