Wind power, like solar, is a renewable energy resource that will lower your utility bills and help you to become energy independent. With financial incentives from the Energy Trust of Oregon, State and Federal tax credits, and new ways to finance your project, generating your own power from the wind can be an innovative and wise investment in clean energy. 

Wind power can be a viable and sustainable solution that will enable you to:

• Gain Energy Independence. When you produce your own power, you are providing for yourself and family.

• Avoid Annual Power Cost Increases. By investing in wind now, you set the price of power, and lock in your energy rates for the life of the system.
• Reduce Your Carbon Footprint. Even here in the Pacific Northwest where we have a great resource for hydro electricity, approximately 40% of our power comes from coal-fired power plants.

A wind turbine generator converts the kinetic energy of the wind into mechanical energy. Energy generated from the wind turbine passes through a voltage clamp which, conditions the power and feeds the inverters. The voltage clamp also diverts electricity to a heat sink when the turbine is producing more than the inverters can handle. The inverters connect through the utility net meter to the building's AC breaker box and from there to your load or into the utility grid depending upon your usage at a given instant.

Net metering systems integrate a meter that literally runs forwards and backwards depending on whether you are generating or consuming electricity at any given time. The Oregon Public Utilities Commission adopted new net metering rules in 2007, raising the individual system limit from 25 kilowatts (kW) to two megawatts (MW) for nonresidential applications in PGE or Pacific Power territory. In public utility districts you may generate up to 25kW using the net metering system. Larger systems may be built and integrated into the grid by first entering into a power purchase agreement with the utility district

The amount of electricity produced is directly related to factors which include your wind resource (average wind speed and turbulence) and the size of your system. Using a wind mapping database, we partner with the Energy Trust of Oregon to help you determine if you have a resource that makes wind a viable option for your particular site. Generally, a 10kW wind system will offset all the electrical needs of a large home in Oregon or generate a significant portion of small commercial and farm electrical usage.