July - September 2009

Brian Wiley selected to present at the Behavioral Finance & Economics Research Symposium

Chicago, Illinois
September 23-25, 2009

Brian Wiley, of Wind Energy Consulting and Contracting Inc. (WECC), was selected by the Academy of Behavioral Finance & Economics to present "Reducing Uncertainty in Decision Making" relative to wind project development at this year's Behavioral Finance & Economics Research Symposium. Brian oversees WECC's financial modeling process for small to utility scale projects. He is currently finishing his Ph.D. at Walden College.

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Dr. Pramod Jain chosen to bring small wind expertise to Wind Expo 2009

Panama City, Panama
September 2-4, 2009

WECC’s Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Pramod Jain, was selected to present “The Do's and Don’ts of Small Wind” at the second annual Latin American Wind Power Conference and Exhibition. Wind Expo 2009 will focus on “integrating wind power into the Latin American energy matrix”. Small wind turbines are being installed at a rapid pace to power small businesses, buildings, malls, houses, and a variety of other applications. Dr. Jain’s intent is to address the primary reasons for poor performance of small wind turbines and provide a framework for successful projects... Read More

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Small wind - Buyer beware!
July 9, 2009

There seems to be a growing abundance of misleading, if not deceptive advertising and false or unrealistic claims by many manufacturers. These take the form of claiming higher energy output, faster payback periods (using higher than what can normally be expected wind speeds in their energy calculations), and other types of unethical claims and behaviors. But help is on the way...Read More

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Production Tax Credit (PTC) vs. Investment Tax Credit (ITC) – You can’t have both

Evaluating which incentive offers the greatest financial benefit to your project
July 7, 2009

The passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 brings both change and confusion to the process of selecting the most beneficial incentives for wind projects. In the past, only the PTC was available for wind projects over 100kw. Now with the addition of the ITC, it is important to quantify the relative value of the PTC in comparison to the ITC so you can make the best decision for your project. The important factors to consider when evaluating your options are cost of installation and the expected capacity factor (which determines the amount of energy that the project will produce). Read More

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Impact of variability and uncertainty of wind resources on the grid
July 3, 2009

What happens when wind is strong (high supply) and there is low demand on the grid? What happens when there is no wind (low supply) and demand is high on the grid? Before answering these questions let me present the background. For simplicity there are three types of generators in a grid: Base load generators, spinning reserve and non-spinning reserves. Read More

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Small wind - Is it right for you?
July 2, 2009

The search for affordable and sustainable energy sources in today’s struggling economy may have you looking toward the small wind market. Before thinking any further about a small wind project, consider the following...Read More

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