News

In recognition of the substantial contribution made by AWS Truewind’s advanced wind mapping technology to accelerate the market penetration of wind technology into the U.S. electric generation portfolio, the U.S. Department of Energy presented AWS Truewind with the 2007 Wind Energy Program Outstanding Technology Acceptance Award. The award was presented at the annual DOE Wind Program Peer Review Meeting and was accepted by Michael Brower, AWS Truewind’s Chief Technical Officer.

Over the course of seven years AWS Truewind, the DOE Wind Energy Program and Wind Powering America state partners collaborated to develop modern wind resource maps in over 30 states. The creation of the wind resource maps, according to the award letter from Steve Lindenberg, Program Manager for DOE Office of Wind and Hydro Technologies, “was a critical first step to engage key decision-makers and stakeholders in promoting wind energy. By understanding the potential wind resource and determining the potential economic benefits from wind energy, these maps helped stimulate the development of thousands of megawatts of wind projects across the country.”

In his comments upon accepting the award, Michael Brower acknowledged and thanked NREL’s wind resource assessment team. “The validation performed by Dennis Elliott and Marc Schwartz improved the accuracy of the maps and increased their acceptance by the wind energy community. The maps would not have been nearly as successful without their contributions.”