Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:During this project, the target audience of the project was commercial electricity customers and distribution utilities in rural locations who stand to benefit directly from the cost-savings, increased electric security and resiliency, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions provided by Pecos Wind Power's PW85 turbine. We engaged with our target audience primarly through phone calls, video calls, and in-person visits. A secondary audience during this project was department of defense of customers. We spoke with dozens of stakeholders within the department of defense to understand their need for distributed power generation and energy resiliency. We engaged with this audience primarly through phone calls and video calls. Changes/Problems:Challenge #1: In general, Pecos Wind Power underestimated the resources required to advance the turbine design state from "detailed design stage" to "manufacturing ready stage". To accomplish the Technical Objectives of this Phase II effort required more than 2x the engineering hours, and approximately 5x the funding than what was initially outlined in the Phase II proposal. Fortunately, the USDA approved Pecos Wind Power for a 12mo extension for the Phase II effort. We aim to complete the outstanding Technical Objectives (#3 and #4) as part of a Post-Phase II effort which will continue through Q1 of 2024. Pecos Wind Power's underestimate of funding was overcome by raising private funds. Thanks to the progress that Pecos Wind Power made in the first half of the Phase II effort, we were able to de-risk our technology sufficiently to raise a pre-seed round to cover our funding gap. Challenge #2: The lead times for ordering components required for prototype manufacturing (Task 2.3) were several months longer than anticipated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To mitigate this issue, we were in frequent communication with the suppliers of our longest lead time items. Challenge #3: The fabrication and installation of a wind turbine requires the support and collaboration of many external organizations: contract manufacturers, shipping agencies, service provider, installation partner, universities, town zoning board, utility, etc. Many of these organizations require contracts with Pecos Wind Power. The logistics, cost, and time associated with establishing these contracts has been an unexpected drain on human and financial resources. Pecos Wind Power was able to minimize the impact of these contracts by enlisting legal counsel to help manage the contracts and expedite the process such that the Pecos engineering team could focus on achieving the technical objectives of the project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has provided a training opportunity for students within the Renewable Energy Program at the State University of New York at Morrisville (SUNY Morrisville). SUNY Morrisville has provided Pecos Wind Power with a letter of intent (LOI) for the first commercial PW85 turbine that will include the USDA Phase II drivetrain. Dr. Philip Hofmeyer has incorporated the PW85 wind turbine into the workforce development program within the Renewable Energy Curriculum. Students have been engaged in the product development process, performed site suitability studies, and estimated site-specific energy production of the PW85 turbine. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Pecos Wind Power has shared design review documentation with the Distributed Wind Energy Association, SUNY Morrisville, the National Renewable Energy Lab, suppliers, prospective customers, and prospective investors. The mode of dissemination has been primarily email, phone, and video call. Additionally, Pecos Wind Power has shared manufacturing progress via videos posted to their YouTube and LinkedIn accounts. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The Phase II effort resulted in fabrication of the drivetrain, integration of the drivetrain into the PW85 turbine, and laboratory bench testing to prove safety and functionality. Through this USDA SBIR Phase II project, Pecos Wind Power successfully completed Technical Objectives 1 and 2. Technical Objective 3 is 60% complete and will be completed, along with Technical Objective 4, as part of a Post-Phase II effort. After completion of Technical Objective 4 (i.e. a 2-month operational field test), the PW85 turbine will be ready for commercial sales to rural electricity customers. Thanks to the R&D completed under this SBIR Phase II, the PW85 is now well positioned to bring the benefits of distributed wind power to a vast and untapped geography of rural communities in low wind speed markets. Communities and individuals will benefit from significant electricity cost-savings, increased electric security, improved resiliency, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. A summary of the accomplishments under each Technical Objective are described below: Technical Objective 1: Finalize the design of the control, electrical, and mechanical support systems required to integrate the high capacity factor drivetrain into the PW85 turbine. Major Activities Completed: Technical Objective 1 began with the design of a control system for the PW85 turbine that is uniquely adept at managing rotor RPM. This was imperative because the PW85's large rotor can accelerate much more rapidly than turbines with similar power ratings. Then, a power electronic system was designed in collaboration with a 3rd party, Windurance LLC, to manage power flow between the drivetrain's generator and the electrical grid. Next, design and structural finite element analysis was performed on the yaw, pitch, and rotor brake subsystems necessary to mechanically integrate the Phase II drivetrain into Pecos Wind Power's PW85 turbine. Lastly, a multi-disciplinary Critical Design Review (CDR) of the PW85 turbine was performed to solicit feedback from internal and external reviewers on the design calculations and analysis performed on each main component of the PW85 turbine. Data Collected: OpenFAST simulations of turbine RPM. Design specifications and analysis documentation for the PW85 control, electrical, and mechanical support systems. Summary Statistics and Discussion of Results: Pecos Wind Power successfully accomplished Technical Objective 1 by designingthe control, electrical, and mechanical support systems necessary to integrate the Phase II drivetrain into the PW85 turbine - a key hurdle towards proving technical feasibility of the drivetrain. We had a goal of the newly developed control system software being able to manage rotor RPM within +/-20% of rated RPM via computer simulations using NREL's wind turbine code, OpenFAST. We were able to exceed our goal by keeping RPM within +/-13% of rated RPM. Key outcomes or Other Accomplishments Realized: The key outcome of this objective was a change in knowledge surrounding whether how the control, electrical, and mechanical subsystems must be adapted to manage the RPM of a large rotor with a relatively small generator. Technical Objective 2: Develop a manufacturing plan to achieve the target sales price of $232,000 per PW85 turbine. Demonstrate feasibility of the plan through fabrication of the prototype drivetrain. Major Activities Completed: Pecos Wind Power successfully manufactured the prototype drivetrain and PW85 turbine with support from their contract manufacturer over the course of this Phase II project. Pecos Wind Power documented the entire manufacturing process via a series of videos that it has published for public viewing by customers, investors, and other stakeholders. The video playlist can be viewed on YouTube or Pecos Wind Power's LinkedIn profile. Please see the links below: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu4zKDrwRyMTo1gWSaXVNV1zrwkOluxO4 https://www.linkedin.com/company/pecoswind/ Data Collected: Component fabrication cost models that allow Pecos Wind Power to understand how design decisions impact manufacturing costs. Feedback from manufacturing experts on the feasibility of manufacturing each of Pecos Wind Power's custom-designed components. Summary Statistics and Discussion of Results: Technical Objective 2 was successfully completed. The prototype drivetrain and PW85 turbine was successful fabricated throughout this Phase II project. This Technical Objective took significantly more time than expected largely due to 1) an underestimate in the engineering resources required to advance the turbine design state from "detailed design stage" to "manufacturing ready stage", and 2) the global supply chain disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic which lengthened lead times and in some cases required Pecos Wind Power to pursue new suppliers and component designs as a result of Covid-related cost increases. Key outcomes or Other Accomplishments Realized: The key outcome of the work during this reporting period was a change in knowledge surrounding how components of the prototype drivetrain are sourced, transported, and assembled into the prototype turbine. Technical Objective 3: Develop an installation plan to achieve the balance of station cost target of $141,175 per PW85 turbine. Demonstrate feasibility of the plan through installation of the prototype PW85 turbine at Renewable Concepts, Inc. Major Activities Completed: Pecos Wind Power has developed a plan for zoning, permitting, and interconnection (ZPI) of the prototype turbine. During this project, our team visited the prototype location (Neodesha, Kansas) and met with the town board, mayor, and municipal utility. We communicated our ZPI plan with the local officials and received informal approval and encouragement to pursue installation of our prototype turbine. We also installed a 34m meteorological tower at the prototype test site in Neodesha, Kansas. The tower was instrumented with 3 anemometers, 2 wind vanes, temperature and humidity sensors. The instrumentation will be used to collect data on the wind resource at the prototype site before the prototype turbine is installed. Once the prototype wind turbine is installed, the instrumentation will be used to validate performance of the turbine. As of the writing of this report, the PW85 foundation has been successfully installed. The PW85 turbine has not yet been installed due an underestimate of the time required to assemble, test, and ready the turbine for field installation. The PW85 turbine will be installed and tested as part of the Post-Phase II effort. Data Collected: We collected wind resource data from the prototype site. Data includes wind speed, wind direction, humidity, and temperature. Summary Statistics and Discussion of Results: Technical Objective 3 is currently 60% complete and is scheduled to be completed in Quarter 1 of 2024. Key outcomes or Other Accomplishments Realized: The key outcome of this objective, to date, has been a change in knowledge surrounding zoning, permitting, and interconnection. Additionally, Pecos Wind Power has gain knowledge of the wind resources at the prototype turbine location in Neodesha, KS. Technical Objective 4: Operate the PW85 turbine for 2 months to test the drivetrain's ability to 1) withstand loading from a large diameter rotor and 2) achieve the target capacity factor of 43% in low annual winds of 6m/s. Demonstrate an LCOE of $0.068/kWh and validate readiness for customer demonstration projects. Major Activities Completed: Pecos Wind Power was not able to finish Technical Objective 4 within the performance period of the Phase II project. It will be completed in Q1 of 2024 using non-SBIR funding. Thanks the successful progress demonstrated during the Phase II effort, Pecos Wind Power was able to attract private funding which will fund the completion of Technical Objective 4.

Publications

Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period, the target audience of the project was commercial electricity customers and distribution utilities in rural locations who stand to benefit directly from the cost-savings, increased electric security and resiliency, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions provided by Pecos Wind Power's PW85 turbine. We engaged with our target audience primarly through phone calls, video calls, and in-person visits. A secondary audience during this reporting period was department of defense of customers. We spoke with dozens of stakeholders within the department of defense to understand their need for distributed power generation and energy resiliency.We engaged with thisaudience primarly through phone calls andvideo calls. Changes/Problems:Challenge #1: The lead times for ordering components required for prototype manufacturing (Task 2.3) have been several months longer than anticipated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To mitigate this issue, we have been frequently communicating with the suppliers of our longest lead time items to stay up-to-date on current lead times. Based on lead times, we are prioritizing our engineering activities such that the longest-lead time components can be ordered first. Despite the delayed timeline, this challenge is not preventing us from successfully accomplishing the goals of this project. The project is on track to be completed successfully. Challenge #2: The fabrication and installation of a wind turbine requires the support and collaboration of many external organizations: contract manufacturers, shipping agencies, service provider, installation partner, universities, town zoning board, utility, etc. Many of these organizations require contracts with Pecos Wind Power. The logistics, cost, and time associated with establishing these contracts has been an unexpected drain on human and financial resources. Pecos Wind Power has worked to minimize the impact of these contracts by enlisting legal counsel to help manage the contracts and expedite the process such that the Pecos engineering team can focus on achieving the technical objectives of the project. This approach has been working well over the past 6 months and has kept the project moving forwards steadily. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has provided a training opportunity for students within the Renewable Energy Program at the State University of New York at Morrisville (SUNY Morrisville). SUNY Morrisville has provided Pecos Wind Power with a letter of intent (LOI) for the first commercial PW85 turbine that will include the USDA Phase II drivetrain. Dr. Philip Hofmeyer has incorporated the PW85 wind turbine into the workforce development program within the Renewable Energy Curriculum. Students have been engaged in the product development process, performed site suitability studies, and estimated site-specific energy production of the PW85 turbine. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Pecos Wind Power has shared design review documentation with the Distributed Wind Energy Association, SUNY Morrisville, the National Renewable Energy Lab, suppliers, prospective customers, and prospective investors. The mode of dissemination has been primarily email, phone, and video call. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, Pecos Wind Power will complete fabrication of the PW85 prototype, finalize the foundation design, and install the PW85 prototype at their test site in Neodesha Kansas.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact: As estimated by the Distributed Wind Energy Association (DWEA), the number of properties nationwide with enough space and wind resources for distributed wind turbines could satisfy the entire country's electricity demand (DWEA, 2015). However, the vast majority of this potential exists in low wind speed areas, 5-6m/s. In these areas, annual energy production of today's small wind turbines is so low that they fail to be cost-competitive with other sources of electricity. Pecos Wind Power's high capacity factor drivetrain will optimize the PW85 for the low wind speed markets most prevalent in rural America. By doing so, it will extend the benefits of distributed wind power to a geographic territory nearly 10x greater than the current market footprint. This USDA SBIR project aims to research and develop a high capacity factor drivetrain capable of withstanding the exceptionally high loading from a rotor with a swept area 56% greater than competing distributed wind turbines. During Phase I, Pecos Wind Power used numerical modeling to design and analyze a drivetrain capable of achieving a capacity factor of 43% in 6m/s annual wind speeds - a 2.5x increase over the average capacity factor of small wind turbines installed to date (DOE, 2019). The Phase II effort will validate Phase I results via fabrication and field testing of the PW85 prototype. If successful, the R&D proposed herein will extend the benefits of distributed wind power to a vast and untapped geography of rural communities; communities and individuals will benefit from significant electricity cost-savings, increased electric security, improved resiliency, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. During this reporting period, Pecos Wind Power made excellent progress towards achieving the Phase II Technical Objectives. Technical Objective 1: Finalize the design of the control, electrical, and mechanical support systems required to integrate the high capacity factor drivetrain into the PW85 turbine. Major Activities Completed: Technical Objective 1 was successfully accomplished in the last reporting period and thus will not be discussed here. Technical Objective 2: Develop a manufacturing plan to achieve the target sales price of $232,000 per PW85 turbine. Demonstrate feasibility of the plan through fabrication of the prototype drivetrain. Major Activities Completed: During this reporting period, Pecos Wind Power began to implement the manufacturing plan that we created during the last reporting period. We met with our contract manufacturers to discuss design-for-manufacture implications for our custom-designed bedframe, hub, and main shaft. Based on feedback from our manufacturers, we iterated the designs to ease manufacturing complexity and cost. This iterative process was critical to understanding how our design decisions impact our component manufacturing costs. Once we concluded design-for-manufacture conversations, the Pecos Wind Power engineering team was able to finalize the custom-designed components, perform final structural finite element analysis, and create fabrication drawings. During this reporting period, we placed purchase orders for the long lead time components of our prototype drivetrain. We have already received many of the critical components such as the blades, gearbox, generator, blade bearings, and yaw bearing. Data Collected: Component fabrication cost models that allow Pecos Wind Power to understand how design decisions impact manufacturing costs. Feedback from manufacturing experts on the feasibility of manufacturing each of Pecos Wind Power's custom-designed components. Summary Statistics and Discussion of Results: Technical Objective 2 is currently 75% complete and is progressing well. Many key turbine components have already begun, or in some cases completed, manufacturing. We are now preparing to assemble the turbine. This Technical Objective has taken significantly more time than expected largely due to 1) an underestimate in the engineering resources required to advance the turbine design state from "detailed design stage" to "manufacturing ready stage", and 2) the global supply chain disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic which lengthened lead times and in some cases required Pecos Wind Power to pursue new suppliers and component designs as a result of Covid-related cost increases. Key outcomes or Other Accomplishments Realized: The key outcome of the work during this reporting period was a change in knowledge surrounding how components of the prototype drivetrain are sourced, transported, and assembled into the prototype turbine. Technical Objective 3: Develop an installation plan to achieve the balance of station cost target of $141,175 per PW85 turbine. Demonstrate feasibility of the plan through installation of the prototype PW85 turbine at Renewable Concepts, Inc. Major Activities Completed: Pecos Wind Power has developed a plan for zoning, permitting, and interconnection (ZPI) of the prototype turbine. During this reporting period, our team visited the prototype location (Neodesha, Kansas) and met with the town board, mayor, and municipal utility. We communicated our ZPI plan with the local officials and received informal approval and encouragement to pursue installation of our prototype turbine. We also installed a 34m meteorological tower at the prototype test site in Neodesha, Kansas. The tower was instrumented with 3 anemometers, 2 wind vanes, temperature and humidity sensors. The instrumentation will be used to collect data on the wind resource at the prototype site before the prototype turbine is installed. Once the prototype wind turbine is installed, the instrumentation will be used to validate performance of the turbine. Data Collected: We are now collecting wind resource data from the prototype site. Data includes wind speed, wind direction, humidity, and temperature. Summary Statistics and Discussion of Results: Technical Objective 3 is currently 20% complete and is scheduled to be completed in Quarter 3 of 2023. Key outcomes or Other Accomplishments Realized: The key outcome of this objective, to date, has been a change in knowledge surrounding zoning, permitting, and interconnection. Additionally, Pecos Wind Power has gain knowledge of the wind resources at the prototype turbine location in Neodesha, KS. Technical Objective 4: Operate the PW85 turbine for 2 months to test the drivetrain's ability to 1) withstand loading from a large diameter rotor and 2) achieve the target capacity factor of 43% in low annual winds of 6m/s. Demonstrate an LCOE of $0.068/kWh and validate readiness for customer demonstration projects. Technical Objective 4 is not scheduled to begin until the next annual reporting period.

Publications

Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period, the target audience of theproject was commercial electricity customers anddistribution utilities in rural locations who stand to benefit directly from the cost-savings, increased electric security and resiliency, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions provided by Pecos Wind Power's PW85 turbine. We engaged with our target audience primarly through phone calls, video calls, and in-person visits. A secondary audience during this reporting period was commercial solar developers. We spoke with over 20 commercial solar developers about their interest in being a sales/distribution channel for our wind turbine. We found significant interest from solar developers in working with us as sales/distribution partners. Changes/Problems:Challenge #1: The work effort required to advance the turbine from the "detailed design stage" of Technical Objective 1 to the "manufacturing ready stage" of Technical Objective 2 has required more engineering resources than expected. In particular, Task 2.1 Develop Manufacturing Plan for PW85 has unveiled the need for more person-hours than initially planned to establish company-wide quality control procedures and to address detailed design-for-manufacturing-and-assembly (DFMA) tasks. We have addressed these challenges by creating a thorough work breakdown structure (WBS) to capture all outstanding tasks. The time required to complete each outstanding task has been estimated, assigned to an engineering lead, and scheduled in our team's master schedule. The level of detail captured in our new master schedule is representative of the significant improvement in project management that Pecos Wind Power has made to address the challenge of bringing the PW85 from "detailed design" to "manufacturing ready". Technical Objective 2 is now progressing steadily and is expected to be accomplished successfully. Challenge #2: The lead times for ordering components required for prototype manufacturing (Task 2.3) have been several months longer than anticipated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To mitigate this issue, we have been frequently communicating with the suppliers of our longest lead time items to stay up-to-date on current lead times. Based on lead times, we are prioritizing our engineering activities such that the longest-lead time components can be ordered first. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has provided a training opportunity for students within the Renewable Energy Program at the State University of New York at Morrisville (SUNY Morrisville). SUNY Morrisville has provided Pecos Wind Power with a letter of intent (LOI) for the first commercial PW85 turbine that will include the USDA Phase II drivetrain. Dr. Philip Hofmeyer has incorporated the PW85 wind turbine into the workforce development program within the Renewable Energy Curriculum. Students have been engaged in the product development process, performed site suitability studies, and estimated site-specific energy production of the PW85 turbine. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Pecos Wind Power has shared design review documentation with SUNY Morrisville, the National Renewable Energy Lab, suppliers, prospective customers, and prospective investors. The mode of dissemination has been primarily email, phone, and video call. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, Pecos Wind Power will complete fabrication of the PW85 prototype, develop an installation plan for the PW85, install the PW85 prototype at their test site in Neodesha Kansas, perform a 2-month operation field test of the turbine, and contract an independent consultant to do an analysis of the turbine test results.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact: As estimated by the Distributed Wind Energy Association (DWEA), the number of properties nationwide with enough space and wind resources for distributed wind turbines could satisfy the entire country's electricity demand (DWEA, 2015). However, the vast majority of this potential exists in low wind speed areas, 5-6m/s. In these areas, annual energy production of today's small wind turbines is so low that they fail to be cost-competitive with other sources of electricity. Pecos Wind Power's high capacity factor drivetrain will optimize the PW85 for the low wind speed markets most prevalent in rural America. By doing so, it will extend the benefits of distributed wind power to a geographic territory nearly 10x greater than the current market footprint. This USDA SBIR project aims to research and develop a high capacity factor drivetrain capable of withstanding the exceptionally high loading from a rotor with a swept area 56% greater than competing distributed wind turbines. During Phase I, Pecos Wind Power used numerical modeling to design and analyze a drivetrain capable of achieving a capacity factor of 43% in 6m/s annual wind speeds - a 2.5x increase over the average capacity factor of small wind turbines installed to date (DOE, 2019). The Phase II effort will validate Phase I results via fabrication and field testing of the PW85 prototype. If successful, the R&D proposed herein will extend the benefits of distributed wind power to a vast and untapped geography of rural communities; communities and individuals will benefit from significant electricity cost-savings, increased electric security, improved resiliency, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. During this reporting period, Pecos Wind Power made excellent progress towards achieving the Phase II Technical Objectives. Technical Objective 1: Finalize the design of the control, electrical, and mechanical support systems required to integrate the high capacity factor drivetrain into the PW85 turbine. Major Activities Completed: Technical Objective 1 began with the design of a control system for the PW85 turbine that is uniquely adept at managing rotor RPM. This was imperative because the PW85's large rotor can accelerate much more rapidly than turbines with similar power ratings. Then, a power electronic system was designed in collaboration with a 3rd party, Windurance LLC, to manage power flow between the drivetrain's generator and the electrical grid. Next, design and structural finite element analysis was performed on the yaw, pitch, and rotor brake subsystems necessary to mechanically integrate the Phase II drivetrain into Pecos Wind Power's PW85 turbine. Lastly, a multi-disciplinary Critical Design Review (CDR) of the PW85 turbine was performed to solicit feedback from internal and external reviewers on the design calculations and analysis performed on each main component of the PW85 turbine. Data Collected: OpenFAST simulations of turbine RPM. Design specifications and analysis documentation for the PW85 control, electrical, and mechanical support systems. Summary Statistics and Discussion of Results: Pecos Wind Power successfully accomplished Technical Objective 1 by designing of the control, electrical, and mechanical support systems necessary to integrate the Phase II drivetrain into the PW85 turbine - a key hurdle towards proving technical feasibility of the drivetrain. We had a goal of the newly developed control system software being able to manage rotor RPM within +/-20% of rated RPM via computer simulations using NREL's wind turbine code, OpenFAST. We were able to exceed our goal by keeping RPM within +/-13% of rated RPM. Key outcomes or Other Accomplishments Realized: The key outcome of this objective was a change in knowledge surrounding whether how the control, electrical, and mechanical subsystems must be adapted to manage the RPM of a large rotor with a relatively small generator. Technical Objective 2: Develop a manufacturing plan to achieve the target sales price of $232,000 per PW85 turbine. Demonstrate feasibility of the plan through fabrication of the prototype drivetrain. Major Activities Completed: Technical Objective 2 began by developing a manufacturing plan that defines the PW85's manufacturing cost curve based on sales/production volume. It involved collaboration with our component vendors and contract manufacturer, RCI, to define how manufacturing methods, logistics, and assembly methods vary with production volume. Pecos Wind Power has performed in-person visits to the manufacturing facilities of more than half a dozen component suppliers. Each visit allowed Pecos Wind Power to discuss the current state of the design with the manufacturer, agree upon the manufacturing approach, and confirm manufacturing readiness of the specific component. Data Collected: Component production costs based on production pricing; manufacturing methods for all components; feedback from manufacturing experts on Pecos Wind Power's manufacturing plan. Summary Statistics and Discussion of Results: Technical Objective 2 is currently 60% complete and is progressing well, albeit slower than expected. The work effort required to advance the turbine from the "detailed design stage" of Technical Objective 1 to the "manufacturing ready stage" of Technical Objective 2 has required more engineering resources than expected. The global supply chain disruption, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, has also contributed to a delay in the receipt of components required for prototype manufacturing. Pecos Wind Power has already implemented strategies to mitigate the impact of these two concerns. Key outcomes or Other Accomplishments Realized: The key outcome of this objective was a change in knowledge surrounding how the PW85 can be manufactured to optimize the balance between cost and quality. This objective also answered the question "at what manufacturing volume will the PW85 be able to achieve the $232,000 price target?". We determined that this price target will be achieved at production volume 125 turbines/year. Technical Objective 3: Develop an installation plan to achieve the balance of station cost target of $141,175 per PW85 turbine. Demonstrate feasibility of the plan through installation of the prototype PW85 turbine at Renewable Concepts, Inc. Major Activities Completed: Pecos Wind Power has begun collaboration with Dr. Philip Hofmeyer, Associate Professor and Co-Chair of SUNY Morrisville's Environmental and Renewable Resources Division, and Steven Frerichs, undergraduate intern who will be supporting Dr. Hofmeyer in the development of Pecos Wind Power's installation plan. Pecos Wind Power has begun the zoning, permitting, and interconnection (ZPI) process for the prototype turbine in Neodesha County, Kansas. Data Collected: To date we have benchmarked installation strategies of leading wind turbine project developers and identified a high-level installation strategy that will minimize costs for our PW85 turbine. Summary Statistics and Discussion of Results: Technical Objective 3 is currently 10% complete and is scheduled to be completed in second half of the Phase II project. Key outcomes or Other Accomplishments Realized: The key outcome of this objective, to date, has been a change in knowledge surrounding industry best practices to optimize installation costs of the PW85 turbine. This was achieved through extensive benchmarking and documentation of installation practices used throughout the wind industry. Technical Objective 4: Operate the PW85 turbine for 2 months to test the drivetrain's ability to 1) withstand loading from a large diameter rotor and 2) achieve the target capacity factor of 43% in low annual winds of 6m/s. Demonstrate an LCOE of $0.068/kWh and validate readiness for customer demonstration projects. Technical Objective 4 is not scheduled to begin until the next annual reporting period.

Publications