DOE Announces Wind Energy Regional Resource Centers

Recent years have seen major growth in wind energy, and deployment projections indicate this trend will continue for all parts of the wind industry, from small distributed and community wind projects to massive land-based and offshore utility-scale facilities. Record numbers of Americans see wind energy as an important contributor to a secure and clean energy portfolio, and thousands of decisions are made every year at the household, local, state, and regional levels about wind energy development.

To help ensure that these decisions are made based on the most up-to-date information, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is pleased to announce six Wind Energy Regional Resource Centers, selected through a competitive process administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The resource centers and their operators are:

• Northeast Wind Resource Center, operated by the Clean Energy Group and Sustainable Energy Advantage
• America’s Islanded Grids Resource Center, operated by the Renewable Energy Alaska Project and Island Institute and covering islanded communities across the United States and U.S. Territories
• Northwest Wind Resource and Action Center, operated by Renewable Northwest Project
• Southeast Regional Resource Center for Wind Energy, operated by the Southeastern Coastal Wind Coalition
• Four Corners Wind Resource Center, operated by the Utah Clean Energy Alliance
• Midwest and Prairie Regional Wind Resource Center, operated by Windustry.

Working closely with DOE and NREL’s broader outreach and education programs, these Regional Resource Centers will:

• Provide accurate, impartial information about challenges facing wind deployment in their regions to aid in efforts to overcome or mitigate these challenges
• Use best practices in education and outreach to deliver this information to create an educated stakeholder community
• Work with decision-makers to ensure they have the tools to make informed decisions about wind energy projects and related policies in their jurisdictions.

In addition to continuing to support fact-based decision-making and increased wind energy literacy across the entire nation, DOE is supporting this regional approach in recognition that deployment opportunities and concerns as well as information needs vary across the country, and that partnerships among regional organizations have a unique and critical role to play in meeting these needs.

For more information about DOE’s Regional Resource Centers and other wind energy outreach activities, please visit our website.