Wind Energy Deployment and Market Transformation

NREL experts have a broad range of wind energy deployment and market transformation capabilities spanning more than 20 years of direct experience that help stakeholders understand and accelerate wind energy deployment in both the United States and internationally.

Because NREL is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center, we undertake projects that fall outside of the services typically provided by high-end wind consultancies, such as those that push the boundaries of wind assessments and deployment strategies. Our position within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) laboratory system also allows more direct dialog at the federal level, both domestically and internationally.

Wind for Schools

Wind Energy Education Project Helps Train Workforce of the Future

Expertise and Knowledge

NREL supports the development of national wind energy-related policy and the deployment of wind energy projects through various avenues, including communications and outreach and technical assistance.

Communications and Outreach

NREL offers assistance with a variety of communications products to address wind energy market barriers and deployment questions, including websites, newsletters, fact sheets, webinars, technical reports, posters, exhibits, marketing products, podcasts, strategic plan development, case studies, and success stories. Our experts are skilled at organizing and conducting stakeholder meetings, trainings, and workshops and developing external networks of experts and stakeholder groups to help offer project assistance, training, and policy support.

Technical Assistance

NREL experts provide technical assistance for a vast array of wind projects involving U.S. tribes, island nations, remote wind-diesel and remote-area power applications, schools, municipal utilities, rural cooperatives, federal lands, and sensitive sites. These technical assistance activities cover a wide range of deployment services, all of which help organizations understand and then deploy wind technologies in a variety of applications. These activities include:

Resource assessments and pre-feasibility studies ranging from single project sites to nationwide resource and wind development potential
Designing and reviewing requests for proposals and performance contracting reviews
Developing methodologies and analyses to assess the economic development impacts of wind energy compared to other energy generation technologies
Strategic planning around wind deployment programs and projects on the international, national, and local levels for offshore, utility-scale land-based, community, and distributed wind technologies
Understanding the policy and economic drivers of implementing wind into isolated and remote power systems, including microgrids, off-grid areas, isolated communities, and island nations.

Wind Project Examples

Wind for Schools

NREL experts designed the Wind for Schools project for the U.S. Department of Energy to counter the trend of reduced numbers of U.S. students entering science and engineering fields. The project ran from 2005 until September 2013. The project, with help from its Wind Application Centers, installed more than 134 wind turbines at schools in 11 states; graduated hundreds of students, many of whom have pursued wind industry careers; and provided hundreds of teachers with wind energy trainings and access to wind curricula. Learn more about the Wind for Schools project.

Jobs and Economic Development Impacts (JEDI) Wind Model

NREL experts developed the Jobs and Economic Development Impacts (JEDI) Wind Model, which allows users to estimate economic development impacts from wind power generation projects; compare wind to other energy generation options; and answer questions about the local economic impact of different energy options and local wind development versus using energy sources imported from outside of the region. NREL uses the tool to assess the impacts of proposed wind projects and created a series of fact sheets documenting the impacts of 1,000 megawatts of new wind power in selected states.

Bangladesh National Wind Resource Assessment

As part of a project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, NREL is conducting broad screening studies to examine the wind resource potential for thousands of federal facilities and development locations in Bangladesh. This information will help the government of Bangladesh form credible wind energy development requests for proposal.

Learn about similar wind project development assessments that NREL has completed for the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Naval Station in Newport, Rhode Island.

Inaugural National Collegiate Wind Competition

The National Collegiate Wind Competition, managed by NREL, is a forum for undergraduate college students of multiple disciplines to investigate innovative wind energy concepts; gain experience designing, building, and testing a wind turbine to perform according to a customized market data-derived business plan; and increase their knowledge of wind industry barriers. Learn more about the competition.

Contact Us

For more information on NREL's wind energy deployment and market transformation work, contact Ian Baring-Gould.

Featured Tools

The Jobs and Economic Development Impacts (JEDI) Wind Model
Allows the user to estimate economic development impacts from wind power generation projects.