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DOE and NYSERDA Fund SWCC
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SWCC thanks the U.S. Department of Energy, the New York
State Energy Research and Development Authority, and other sponsors for financial assistance they
have provided to SWCC to assist with the start-up of the small wind turbine
certification program.
Click here for a list of all SWCC funders.
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Small Wind Certification Council
April 2010
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Greetings!
 We are thrilled
to be "open for
business" and starting to review requests for North American
small wind turbine certification. With consumer demand for
wind
turbines at an all-time high, certification will confirm that turbines have
been
tested and allow consumers to easily compare turbines in the marketplace.
Many turbines are just entering the early stages of testing for certification. SWCC certification is
expected to
take approximately 2 months once test reports and complete applications
are
received. To expedite processing, SWCC has opened a new office
in
Albany, New York, with Sue Pratt as our new Administrator. In this e-mail,
I will give you
information on how to begin the application process with
Notices of
Intent, how to access archives of recent Webinars, which
funding
agencies expect to require certification, and how to contact
our new
Administrator. Please contact
me or Sue if you have
any questions or comments.  Larry SherwoodExecutive Director |
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Now Accepting Notices of Intent Promptly
following the American Wind Energy
Association's adoption of the AWEA 9.1-2009 Small Wind Turbine Safety and Performance Standard,
in February SWCC began accepting Notices of Intent
to Submit an Application from small wind turbine
manufacturers,
designers and authorized designees. Application packets and
instructions for submitting a Notice of Intent (NOI), the
first step
in pursuing SWCC certification, are available on the SWCC
Website.
SWCC has already received a number of NOIs and has initiated
review. Applicants are encouraged to submit their NOIs as soon
as possible to ensure that their turbines receive early
consideration.
If you want to apply for certification, visit the SWCC Website and
click on the Application & Fee page under the
Manufacturer tab. After
downloading and reviewing the SWCC Certification Policy, submit the Notice of Intent form, and the Configuration Description (CD) form to SWCC.
In the NOI, Applicants provide basic
information about the turbine(s), a description of testing and
evaluation plans, as well as cut sheets, design drawings,
operation
manuals, photos, and other details. A
separate SWCC Configuration
Description Form must be included with the NOI for each
turbine
seeking certification. Applicants should submit their NOI
before
testing begins to be sure that your test plan conforms to SWCC
requirements.
Payment of a non-refundable
Preliminary Review Fee of $2,500 per turbine (plus $1,250 for
each
additional configuration of the same type included) is
required with
submission of the NOI. This fee covers SWCC's initial review
of the
turbine design and test plans as well as development of
tailored
Certification Agreement(s) including requirements of the
structural
analysis and certification fee estimates. More information on
SWCC
fees can be found in Section G and Annex E of the SWCC Certification Policy. |
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Small Wind Webinars Recap
SWCC hosted two
informational Webinar Briefings in
February and March for manufacturers, managers of government
and
utility incentive programs, and other interested stakeholders.
More than 150
participants logged on to learn details
about how small wind manufacturers can pursue SWCC
certification for
their turbines, including the process for complying with
AWEA's Small
Wind Standard and becoming eligible for SWCC certification.
Approximately forty utility, state and federal agency
representatives
learned about SWCC's certifying process and policy
implications
of small wind turbine certification.
SWCC Technical
Director Brent Summerville briefed the
groups on the relationships between the AWEA Standard, the
SWCC,
turbine manufacturers, and testing organizations. After
reviewing the application and review process, Brent discussed
the
costs and benefits of certification and fielded questions.
Incentive
program managers discussed how certification
eligibility requirements can build greater confidence that
small
turbines installed with public assistance are safe and perform
as
expected.
Representatives
from Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Oregon
and Minnesota provided examples of how their states plan to
use SWCC
certification in their renewable energy programs.
Recordings and slides from both Webinars are available on the
SWCC
website under the Archives tab. The
American Solar Energy Society's Small
Wind Division will be holding an additional Webinar on July
13, 2010
to review SWCC certification for dealers and installers of small wind turbines.
Registration
details will be included in the next ASES Small Wind Division newsletter.
SWCC recently
expanded its website FAQs for manufacturers and added FAQs for consumers and policy makers to address
questions raised at the Webinars.
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Funding Agencies Await Certified SWT More than a
dozen states and utilities are sending a clear signal to small
wind
turbine (SWT) manufacturers on future requirements for
certification. Programs in
Massachusetts, New York, and Wisconsin have
established certification by the SWCC or similar certification
bodies
as a pathway to eligibility or qualification for consumer
incentives. The Energy Trust of Oregon has
indicated that SWCC certification will become the preferred
method
for qualifying wind turbines and estimating annual energy
output.
Numerous
other incentive program managers have
indicated they plan to require certification or evidence of
intent to
achieve certification for small wind turbines to be eligible
for
funding, including: programs in Arizona, California, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Vermont, Washington and Iowa. Several others are considering such requirements.
In a previous SWCC survey, seven incentive program managers
indicated
that certification could help expand their programs to include
small
wind turbines. More than half of the states and utilities with
existing requirements for small wind turbines who responded to
the
SWCC survey indicated that they expect to use certification to
supplement or replace these procedures.
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Introducing Our Administrator
 Sue Pratt is
the SWCC's new Administrator and will
provide office support to process certification applications. You can
reach
Sue at info@smallwindcertification.org or 518-213-9440. You can also reach Larry Sherwood or Brent Summerville at this same number.
The SWCC mailing address is now:
634 Plank Road, Suite 102
Clifton Park, NY 12065
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