Background: Upstate and Western New York in particular have great wind resources, with many farmers, homeowners, and business owners wanting to invest in small-scale wind energy systems to reduce their electric bills and lower their operating costs. Continued state support for wind turbines producing power for on-site use is in the best interests of New York ratepayers in order to sustain a thriving local market for clean energy.

The current New York on-site wind incentive, the leading program in the nation helping the distributed wind market turn the corner with rapid uptake, sunsets at the end of 2015. As part of New York’s Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) process, NYSERDA is reorienting its funding programs and looking to pool funds to foster replication.

Many of the REV initiatives – such as community net metering, community choice aggregation, valuing distributed generation in new utility tariffs, and demonstration projects – could provide new exciting opportunities for the distributed wind industry in New York. However, an immediate transition into a new funding model with unique program mechanics may cripple an industry that has begun to grow exponentially over the past two years, and particularly over the past 6 months.

Five years from now, with the REV changes in place, NYSERDA will be in a better position to craft a technology-neutral program for the non-solar DG programs, and the New York distributed wind industry will have gained meaningful economies of scale and cost reductions and be in a position to exist in a post-subsidy world.

Please add your name to support recommendations of the Alliance for Clean Energy NY and Distributed Wind Energy Association that NYSERDA renew funding to extend tailored incentives and customized support for on-site wind projects for an additional 5 years.

Note: If appropriate, please include your company name in the petition sign-on’s comment field.