Oklahoma Wind: Information For Individual Wind Turbine Projects

A growing number of Oklahomans are now interested in purchasing and installing wind turbines to generate electricity for their individual homes, businesses, or farming operations.

Find information and resources here to:

• Develop a wind power project to meet your personal energy needs
• Assess your property's wind capacity
• Find financial resources available to individual project developers
• Get information on wind turbine suppliers

I Want a Wind Turbine: Developing an Individual Wind Power Project

Small Wind Electric Systems: An Oklahoma Consumer's Guide, Published by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, this step-by-step guide can be used to help you decide if using a small wind turbine is practical for meeting your personal energy needs.

Small Wind Electric Systems: An Oklahoma Consumer's Guide will help you determine the size of wind turbine needed, how much it will cost, where you can find installation and maintenance support, how to select the appropriate site for the wind turbine, the benefits of staying off the grid or connecting to the existing utility system, and more.

Do You Have Enough Wind?

Resource assessment is one of the first steps involved with wind power development discussed in Small Wind Electric Systems: An Oklahoma Consumer's Guide and in Oklahoma Wind: Information for Community Wind Developers. The Oklahoma Wind Power Initiative (OWPI) offers an interactive wind resource map to help you determine your property's wind potential or capacity.

After you take a look at the estimated wind density around your property, wind measurements should be taken for at least a year to provide an adequate picture of the area's wind capacity. OWPI can provide you with and help install instrument towers, data loggers, and wind measurement instruments as well as analyze the data collected.

Oklahoma Mesonet also provides wind data across the state.

Off the Grid or On: Communicate with Your Local Utility and Government Agencies

Whether you decide to connect your individual wind turbine to the electricity grid or just run the power directly to your home, business or farming operation, you must communicate with your local utility and all the appropriate government agencies.

For more, see Oklahoma Wind: Information for Community Wind Developers.

Financial Resources for Individual Power Systems

While various federal, state, and private sources for grants, loans, and other types of funding exist to help develop community wind farms, it is harder to find assistance in off-setting the costs for individual wind power projects. However, here are a few good places to start:

Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE) provides information on federal incentives such as the Renewable Electricity Production Tax Credit; details Oklahoma tax credits and incentives such as the Tax Credit for Manufacturers of Small Wind Turbines and the Zero-Emission Facilities Production Tax Credit.

JEDI (Job and Economic Development Impact), a user-friendly model developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to help individuals and communities analyze the costs and economic impact of wind projects before they visit the bank or approach investors.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Program provides loans, grants, and guarantees to rural small businesses (as well as farmers and ranchers) for the purchase of renewable energy systems, including wind power generation, and improvements in energy efficiency through Section 9006 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002.

New Residential Wind Investment Tax Credit Now Available

The $700 billion federal bailout for the nation's financial sector included a new residential wind investment tax credit of $1,000 per kilowatt of capacity, up to $4,000 on available small wind turbine units installed through 2016. 

Wind Turbine Suppliers

While by no means a complete list of wind turbine manufacturers, Oklahoma Community Wind Guidebook, Page 14, provides the names of some of the most well-known suppliers and examples of the products offered. The turbine manufacturers listed by OWPI include Bergey Windpower; GE Energy; Siemens; and Vestas Wind Systems.

Small Wind Turbine Equipment Suppliers