Wind Resource Assessments

Minnesota Wind Resource Estimator - Small Wind

The Minnesota Department of Commerce, Energy Division, provides a very useful tool for estimating the average annual wind speed 100 feet (30 meters) up for any location in the state. This interactive tool is ideal for anyone considering a small (home or farm scale) wind system, as the value can be input into our small wind financial calculator to find out whether a wind project will be financially rewarding. They call the tool a "Wind Speed Verification Tool".

The tool is available here.

Minnesota Wind Resource Maps

Minnesota Wind Map

The first step for planning a wind energy project is determining if you have enough wind to justify the expense of the system and the time and expense of operating and maintaining your equipment.

Wind Powering America provides high-resolution wind maps and estimates of the wind resource potential. The Department of Energy's Wind Program and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) published a wind resource map for the state of Minnesota. The wind resource map shows the predicted mean annual wind speeds at 80-m height for commercial wind farms and Community Wind projects.

Wind Powering America Minnesota Wind Map

The Minnesota Department of Commerce provides wind maps developed for the Department by WindLogics, a Minnesota company that is at the leading edge of wind resource assessment using atmospheric modeling. These 2006 maps show the wind speed resources at 30, 80, and 100 meters, as well as capacity factor and energy production estimates for a 1.65 MW wind turbine at 80 meters.

Minnesota Department of Commerce Wind Maps

For other states, see the Wind Powering America website.

Lummi Nation Wind Energy Development Feasibility Assessment Services RFP

June 30, 2010 - 9:25am -- Anonymous

 

The Lummi Nation is requesting proposals from qualified consulting firms to provide wind energy development feasibility assessment services. The overall goal of the Lummi Indian Reservation Wind Energy Development Feasibility Assessment Project, which is funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, is to determine if and at what cost wind energy development on the Reservation can help achieve the tribal goal of energy self-sufficiency.

Environmental Assessments in the Great Lakes Region Webinar

This webinar was hosted by Windustry with support from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on May 18, 2010. The webinar provided a discussion of discuss environmental assessments for land-based wind energy development in and near communities along the Great Lakes.

Presenters for the webinar included:

  • David Stout, Chairman of the Wind Turbine Guidelines Advisory Committee, US Fish and Wildlife Service
  • Charles McKeown, Renewable Energy Policy Program Manager, MSU Land Policy Institute
  • Michael D. Ernst, Esq., Director, Regulatory Affairs, Tetra Tech

Play the Webinar
This recording requires use of a compatible media player for Windows Media Video (WMV).

Download slides from the webinar:

 

The Environmental Assessments in the Great Lakes Region webinar and slides are copyrighted by their respective owners and may not be distributed in any format without the explicit written permission of the copyright owners.

Wind Resource Maps and Estimates Show Increased Potential for United States

February 25, 2010 - 2:46pm -- Anonymous

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and consulting firm AWS Truewind, LLC have developed new wind resource maps and wind potential tables for the United States, the first comprehensive update of wind energy potential since 1993. The analysis indicates that wind resources in the U.S. are greater than previous estimates, up to three times more than previous estimates with the potential to generate up to 37 million gigawatt hours annually.

U.S. Wind Resource Map
 

Wind Resource Assessment Techniques for Successful Project Development Seminar

2007

Quebec City, Canada (in conjunction with CanWEA Conference). This seminar, by St. Paul MN based firm WindLogics, is designed for landowners, developers and investors concerned with community-based, utility-scale or commercial distributed generation projects. At its conclusion, participants will have a better understanding of methods for wind resource analysis, including recent advances, appropriate for their specific project goals. In addition, they will have increased insight into current data requirements for financial due diligence.

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