Borrowing a page from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Distributed Wind Energy Association (DWEA) has released its own Wind Vision – a report highlighting the potential of distributed wind.
According to DWEA, the report outlines the strategies needed to reach 30 GW of so-called behind-the-meter wind generation by 2030.
To achieve the 30 GW of distributed wind by 2030, industry and government need to do the following:
- Remove the 100 kW cap on the small wind investment tax credit (ITC) and provide a long-term extension of the ITC;
- Enact a 40% ITC for residential wind systems up to 20 kW as part of the ITC extension;
- Increase the DOE budget overall and expand distributed wind research and development to at least 15% of the DOE wind budget as part of a new DOE initiative focused on distributed wind;
- Maintain funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Energy for America Program beyond the current farm bill; and
- Encourage states and utilities to provide incentives for distributed wind on par with the solar incentives they have successfully employed to grow their solar markets.
‘The U.S. distributed wind energy supply chain is made up of hundreds of manufacturing facilities and vendors spread across the country – supporting jobs in manufacturing, retail, construction and maintenance,’ says Jennifer Jenkins, DWEA's executive director. ‘This is a critical time for our industry, but with the right policies in place at the state and federal levels, we have the potential to be the next cleantech boom.’
