The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) annual Distributed Wind Market Report provides stakeholders with statistics and analysis of the distributed wind market, along with insight into its trends and characteristics.
Distributed wind is defined by the wind project’s location relative to end-use and power distribution infrastructure, rather than turbine or project size. Compared with traditional, centralized power plants, which send power over transmission lines to distant end-users, distributed wind energy installations supply power directly to homes, farms, businesses, and communities.
Key findings from the 2016 Distributed Wind Market Report include:
U.S. wind turbines in distributed applications reached a cumulative installed capacity of 992 MW, from roughly 77,000 turbines spanning all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
New small wind turbine models were certified in 2016
Additional financing is funding distributed wind projects
U.S. manufacturers continued to dominate domestic sales of small wind turbines (up through 100 kilowatts)
Between 2014 and 2016, U.S.-based small wind turbine manufacturers accounted for more than $240 million in small wind turbine export sales.