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California's recent problems with high electricity prices and the risk of electricity outages have led many to seek a new answer. With last year's rate increases, PG&E residential customers are paying among the highest rates in the country. Wind power can help. The price of wind power has come down dramatically in the past two decades, making it the most affordable type of renewable energy in places with a good wind resource. Take control of your electric bills. Let the Wind spin your meter backwards. Get a cash rebate from the CA Energy Commission
of up to 50% off
the purchase price of a small wind turbine or other renewable energy
system for your home. Installing a personal wind turbine at your
home can reduce your energy bills by $20-$200 a month! Click here
for more details or contact the Energy Call Center toll free at
A typical 10 kW wind system costs about $16,000 to install after the CEC rebate and state tax credit. Wind turbine owners can expect to recoup their initial investment in under 7 years, and enjoy essentially FREE electricity for the remainder of the system's 30-year useful life. If you live in a windy part of the state and own at least an acre of property, a household or "small" wind turbine may be great insurance against increases in your electricity bill. If you live elsewhere, you can still take action to support greater utility-scale use of this clean, abundant electricity source to help solve California’s problems. New CA state law eases permitting Signed into law last October, AB 1207 is a landmark bill that classifies small wind turbines as a "use by right" and aids the siting and permitting of small wind turbines for homes and businesses. The new law requires CA cities and counties (excluding some densely populated areas) to allow wind turbine tower heights of at least 65 feet on any property sized an acre or more- and at least 80 feet on 5-acre or larger properties. The following are some links that will help you decide if a household wind system is for you! www.awea.org/smallwind will give you an overview of the technology and the incentives that California offers to install renewable generators, as well as links to application information here on the AWEA Web site.
Click here to download "California Wind Power for Energy Independence" flyer (349 kb) mailed to 35,000 households in August 2002. Click here to download a fact sheet on installing small wind energy systems in San Bernardino, and Los Angeles counties. (280 kb) Click here to download a fact sheet on installing small wind energy systems in California. (271 kb) Click here for a flyer on the California Energy Commission's 50% cash rebate for small-scale renewable systems. (38 kb). Click here to download "Buying a Small Wind Electric System: A California Consumer's Guide." (133kb)
Click
here for a
3-page California Small Wind Turbine Media Backgrounder
including Q&A for reporters. (116kb) Click here for
"California Wind Power for Energy Independence" flyer (387 kb)
mailed to 65,000 households in April 2002.
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| Utility-Scale
Wind
Wind energy has vast potential to contribute to California’s electricity supply. The wind potential in a seven-state region (California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Nevada) is enough to supply most of the electricity used by the entire U.S., let alone California. California is the state with the largest amount of installed wind capacity in the US. Although the implosion of the California market has forced green suppliers out of the market, the wind turbines continue to generate emission-free electricity. For information about the utility-scale wind power projects in California, click here. |
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2002 by the American Wind Energy Association. |
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