Heather Rhoads-Weaver is Principal Consultant and Founder of eFormative Options with a long career in distributed wind, mostly in policy. Heather talks with IREC about the industry--where it's been and where it's headed.

The Distributed Wind Policy Comparison Tool, a one-stop shop for information related to the cost, policies, incentives and other details associated with on-site wind, has been updated with several improvements to reflect changes in market conditions: www.windpolicytool.org

More than 50 industry, academic, and government representatives from 25 states plus Washington, DC, and Canada joined to work together in a new way to inaugurate the Sustainable Manufacturing Advanced Research and Technology (SMART) Wind Consortium on October 16 in Albany, New York. Hosted by the Distributed Wind Energy Association (DWEA), the event marked the...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced in September that USDA is investing in 540 renewable energy and energy efficiency projects nationwide, including 14 small wind projects.

In July, DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory announced two new Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP) awards. Northern Power Systems of Barre, VT, and Urban Green Energy of New York, NY will receive a portion of the $1.27 million allocated to the CIP in support of the DOE’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently issued a Request for Proposals seeking teams of students to participate in the 2016 U.S. Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition. First held in 2014 at the American Wind Energy Association Annual Conference and Expo in Las Vegas, the Collegiate Wind Competition challenges teams...

In August of 2014, DOE released a report summarizing the current state of the distributed wind market in the U.S. The 2013 Distributed Wind Market Report’s purpose is to help plan and guide future investments and decisions by industry, utilities, state and federal agencies, and others.