To assure that the wind resource at your site will provide you with an appropriate return on you investment, you should collect wind speed and direction data.
The Interstate Renewable Energy Council´s (IREC) 2003 publication on interconnection categorizes the issues in three groups: Technical, Legal, and Fees...
Unlike large central-station generation, which is connected to the utility transmission system, distributed generation is typically smaller and connects to the grid at distribution-voltage levels.
The goal of a wind facility permitting process, as with other energy facility siting processes, is to reach decisions that are timely and avoid unnecessary court challenge; ensure project compliance with existing laws and regulations ensuring environmental protection at a reasonable cost.
Wind and other renewable resources may be affected differently than conventional generation by new electric industry rules because of such inherent characteristics as their location dependence, intermittency, and low capacity factor.
"Wind power plants generate electricity when the wind is blowing, and the plant output depends substantially on the wind speed. Wind speeds cannot be predicted with high accuracy over daily periods, and the wind often fluctuates from minute to minute and hour to hour. Consequently, electric utility system planners and operators have been concerned that variations in wind-plant output may increase the operating costs of the system as a whole...."
What are the factors in the cost of electricity from wind turbines? What incentives are there for developing a wind system? What financial resources are there to help offset the cost of the system?
Throughout the world, development of wind energy is seen as a way to assist the expansion of local economies.