 Photo of an anemometer, before it is raised, in Bay Mills, Michigan
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) Native American Anemometer Loan Program is part of an effort to promote the installation of wind turbines on Native American lands. NREL's program allows Native American tribes to borrow anemometers and the equipment needed for installation so that they may measure the wind resource on tribal lands. By significantly reducing the cost of quantifying the wind resource in tribal lands, NREL expects that more tribes will be encouraged to install wind turbines. The Anemometer Loan Program is administered jointly by NREL and the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Powering America Initiative. The map below shows the locations where anemometers are currently installed and where monitoring is complete.
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20-Meter Anemometer Loan Information
The 20-meter anemometer has been the standard loan offer since the program's inception. The 20-meter anemometer loan is free to the tribe and anemometers are more accessible. Tribes that currently do not have their wind resource well characterized should apply for the 20-meter anemometer before pursuing the tall tower anemometers.
Tall Tower (40-50-Meter) Anemometer Loan Information
As a follow on to the Native Amercan Anemometer Loan Program, Wind Powering America (WPA) expects to soon be offering 40-meter and 50-meter anemometer towers for loan to Native American Tribes and Native Alaska Villages.
WPA is set to inherit six tall tower anemometers from a Department of Defense wind monitoring effort that is scheduled to wind down over the next year. WPA currently doesn't have the anemometers. Earliest availability is estimated to be spring of 2005, but we encourage applicants to apply now. Applications recieved through February 18, 2005, will be considered first. After that, applications will be processed on a first come, first served, basis. Due to the limited number of available tall tower anemometers and the expense and effort required to properly site and install them, the lending criteria will be much more stringent than for the 20-meter towers. Applicants must have a well-developed project concept. Also, applicants must be able to pay for installation and dismantling of the tower ($5,000 - $10,000). Details of the lending program and application instructions are in the files below.
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