Lessons Learned from the U.S. Photovoltaic Industry and Implications for Development of Distributed Small Wind: Preprint

In recent years, advocates for the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry have developed successful strategies for marketing PV as a customer-sited energy resource. Their efforts have ranged from supporting effective Federal programs and incentives to initiating state and local efforts to remove siting barriers and industry efforts that build consumer confidence. More important, PV advocates have established relationships that define customer-sited PV as a viable and important technology. The PV industry's record of success and its persistent challenges can be instructive to the small wind industry. These industries share many characteristics in terms of system outputs, applications, economics, and industry goals. In some ways, small wind is staged for growth just as PV was a decade ago. The authors provide an examination of market development issues in these industries, including Federal policy infrastructure and incentives, state and local policy infrastructure, and business support. Subsequently, the authors provide recommendations for distributed wind development that include collaborations with the PV industry and as stand-alone small wind initiatives. In particular, the authors suggest aligning customer-sited small wind (and PV) with demand-side energy strategies and emphasizing the need to address all customer-sited renewables under a cohesive distributed generation development strategy.