Guides

The following WINDExchange guides provide information to help you assess available wind resources, evaluate turbine options, and analyze electricity costs. These guides will be useful for understanding technology and its potential impacts for homeowners, communities, utility companies, wind energy developers, decision makers, and anyone interested in wind energy.

For a basic introduction to wind energy, its different applications, and its benefits and challenges, visit our What is Wind Power? page.

Wind Energy Resource Maps

Community Resources

Explore WINDExchange’s guides to learn about wind energy community benefits, the economic development potential associated with wind energy, large and small-scale community wind energy projects, safety standards and training for offshore wind energy projects, and more.

  • Wind energy projects can offer communities a variety of benefits, including tax credits, jobs, and revenue. The Wind Energy Community Benefits Guide summarizes the advantages of and provides examples of voluntary, financial or nonfinancial community benefit agreements and related funds and developers may offer communities impacted by wind energy projects.
  • The Land-Based Wind Energy Economic Development Guide aims to help community decision makers better understand the economic development potential during the development, construction, and operation of land-based wind energy projects.
  • The Large Community Wind Handbook was designed to provide guidance for developing a large wind power project in a community. It includes information on ordinances, interconnections, purchase agreements, construction, operations and maintenance, and economics and finances. This guide is ideal for communities interested in powering schools, hospitals, businesses, farms, ranches, and community facilities. This guide can also be useful for rural electric cooperatives, municipal utilities, independent power producer groups, and limited liability corporations who sell power to a local electricity supplier.
  • The Offshore Wind Workforce Safety Standards & Training Resource defines the stakeholders, challenges, and opportunities in the field of offshore wind energy safety. In addition, the fact sheet clarifies roles and responsibilities while identifying key actions to ensure the workers who build and operate offshore wind energy projects are properly trained for the unique workforce development and needs of this sector of wind energy.
  • The Small Community Wind Handbook provides guidance on the siting and development activities required to develop a small wind energy project in a small community. The handbook includes information on zoning, engaging neighbors, evaluating wind resources, connecting power, permitting, and finding installers. This handbook is ideal for communities interested in powering schools, hospitals, businesses, farms, ranches, and community facilities. Rural electric cooperatives, municipal utilities, independent power producer groups, or limited liability corporations who sell power to a local electricity supplier may also find this guide useful.
  • The Small Wind Guidebook provides information to help individuals, such as homeowners, ranchers, and small business owners, determine whether residential wind energy is right for them and understand how to install wind turbine(s) on their property.

Development, Operation, and Decommission

Review WINDExchange’s wind energy project development and workforce webpages or dig into the following guides about locating land-based projects, offshore workforce practices, and end-of-service processes:

  • Distributed wind turbines can be connected to an electricity delivery system or used in off-grid applications to serve on-site energy demand or local loads on the same distribution network. The Distributed Wind Energy Resource Hub is designed to help anyone interested in harnessing the power of local, clean, renewable, reliable, and resilient energy in residential, commercial, industrial, government, institutional, utility, community, and agricultural applications. It serves as a directory of curated, targeted links to resources, including general distributed wind energy information, federal project funding opportunities, U.S. technical assistance opportunities, as well as models, tools, and toolkits.
  • Land-Based Wind Energy Siting: A Foundational and Technical Resource presents foundational information about land-based utility-scale wind energy siting that local decision makers can use when considering wind energy development in their communities.
  • The Offshore Wind Energy Workforce Development Best Practices Resource offers best practices surrounding key challenges facing the development of an available and properly trained offshore wind energy workforce, including awareness and outreach, reducing barriers, collaboration, transparency, and standardized actions.
  • The Offshore Wind Energy Workforce Manufacturing and Supply Chain Resource outlines job opportunities for component manufacturing facilities and their suppliers, which could be a significant portion of the offshore wind energy workforce offshore wind energy workforce, providing estimates of the number of workers within facilities, lists roles and certifications, and the magnitude of supplier job opportunities for each major technology component.
  • The Wind Energy End-of-Service Guide gives readers a foundational understanding about what happens to wind turbines and related infrastructure when a wind energy project is repowered or decommissioned.

For further assistance, contact: windexchange@nrel.gov