Bergey Windpower receives federal grant
Aseries of federal research grants promises to help Norman’s Bergey Windpower Co. lower its cost and better compete with international firms.
The U.S. Department of Energy this week announced that Bergey has received one of six new contracts totaling $1.49 million awarded by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Distributed Wind Competitiveness Improvement Project designed to help make small-scale wind power more affordable.
Distributed electricity refers to small-scale power generated at a home or business, as opposed to large-scale projects owned by electric utilities.
Bergey President Mike Bergey said his company will use the almost $249,000 grant to help develop a new tower design that will allow customers to install a Bergey home wind system without the need for a concrete base.
“We project that the new foundation will save about 11 percent of the cost of installation,” Bergey said. “If you can install our wind turbines without having to pour concrete in a rural area, you can save money.”
The grant follows on two other Department of Energy investments totaling about $280,000 that helped the company upgrade its turbine. Bergey expects to begin delivering its first new 15 kilowatt turbine in the first quarter of next year.
The unit replaces Bergey’s current 10 kilowatt unit, producing twice the power with only a 10 percent increase in the total cost, he said.
“Our largest market now is Japan, and we think this will quadruple or more our exports to Japan,” Bergey said.
The partnership grants require Bergey to contribute a portion of the research and development cost, but allows the company to keep the developed technology.
Bergey said the grant money will allow his company to compete with solar panel makers in China who have received billions of dollars from the Chinese government.
“We have lost a lot of competitiveness and market share to Chinese solar modules, which have flooded the country because they’ve dropped in price by about 75 percent over the last six years,” he said. “The DOE funding is allowing us to develop technical improvements on the installation of our turbines, which will lower the costs and allow us to better compete.”
The broader grant project is designed to lower the cost of distributed wind energy and to increase the number of distributed wind systems available to consumers, said Patrick Gillman, program manager for the Energy Department’s Wind Energy Technologies Office.
“We think distributed wind has an important role to play in America’s energy future,” Gillman said. “It gives consumers control over their own energy use and allows them to make investments in reliable fixedprice power.”
The grants typically are awarded to small businesses like Bergey, which has 28 employees and has operated in Norman for 40 years.
“These aren’t global companies backed by billions in venture capital,” Gillman said. “These are small businesses in the heartland that are making steps forward in partnership with us. We’re proud of them and think the taxpayers can be proud as well.”