National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Wind Research

Low Wind Speed Technology Project

To develop low wind speed technologies, the DOE Wind Program works with industry through cost-shared partnerships. Industry partners lead new technology designs and make commercial decisions while the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) provide the theoretical support through applied research and feedback from performance testing. The laboratories then facilitate technology transfer to industry while providing unique testing services.

The level of cost-sharing required depends on the size of the procurement and the accompanying technical risk. Solicitations for Low Wind Speed Turbine (LWST) partnerships were completed in 2001 and 2004. Solicitations offer bidders an opportunity to participate in one of three technical areas, including 1) concept and scaling studies, 2) component development, and 3) low wind speed turbine prototype development. This approach allows industry partners several different approaches to synthesizing new systems designs.

Information about the industry partnerships that resulted from past solicitations can be found in the Wind Energy Technologies Portfolio below.

The following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.

Concept Design Studies

Component Development

Prototype Development