Small Wind Toolbox
This toolbox set was assembled and provided by Mick Sagrillo of Sagrillo Power & Light. Many of the fact sheets were authored by Mick over many years for publication in other venues. Although some of the materials are Wisconsin-specific, we hope that this toolbox will be of assistance to anyone planning to install a wind turbine for their own use.
Note: Some of the materials below are copyrighted by Mick Sagrillo and are provided exclusively for individual educational use, NOT for purposes of bulk copying, distribution or sales. For any other use, please contact Mick Sagrillo at msagrillo@wizunwired.net for specific permission.
Toolbox - Information for Homeowners and Installers
- A Call for a Sensibility Approach to Small Wind
- An Open Letter to Inventors
- Annual inspections
- Apples & Oranges
- Apples & Oranges Technical Appendix
- Back to the Basics 1-Ground Drag
- Back to the Basics 2-Turbulence
- Back to the Basics 3-Quality Plus Quantity Equals More Electricity
- Back to the Basics 4-Determining Your Minimum Tower Height
- Back to the Basics 5-Collector Size
- Back to the Basics 6-Estimating Annual Energy Output
- Back to the Basics 7-Wind Resource Maps and Wind Site Assessments
- Buying used equipment
- Caveat Emptor
- Code compliance
- Determining the Cost of Electricity
- Environmental Benefits of Your Wind Energy System
- Home-built wind generators
- How to Buy a Wind Energy System (921KB)
- How to Buy a Wind Energy System, with WI Wind Map (3MB)
- How to Buy a Wind Energy System, updated 2009
-
Wind
Turbine Buyers Guide, 2011 - includes installer survey - Installing your own wind system
- Filing an insurance claim
- Keep it spinning
- Operation and maintenance costs
- Payback 1- The Wrong Question
- Payback 2- Investment Considerations for Small Wind
- Planning Your Wind System 1-What Size System Do You Need
- Planning Your Wind System 2-Evaluating Your Wind Resource
- Planning Your Wind System 3-Improving Your Site
- Planning Your Wind System 4-Building Permits
- Planning Your Wind System 5-Utility Requirements
- Planning Your Wind System 6-Liability Insurance
- Planning Your Wind System 7-Homeowner’s Insurance
- Planning Your Wind System 8-Finding an Installer
- Planning Your Wind System 9-Utility Buy-Back Rates
- Planning Your Wind System 10-Working With Your Neighbors
- Problem Wind Systems Hit North America
- Questions Any Installer Should Answer
- Questions Any Manufacturers Should Answer
- Rooftop Wind--Determining Your Resource
- Rooftop-Mounted Wind Turbines
- Rules of thumb for tower heights
-
Shopping
for a Wind Turbine--Your House Uses Energy Not Power
- Silver Lining in Poorly Performing Turbines
- Size Matters
- Small wind systems WI consumers guide
- Tower styles
- Towers 1—Siting towers and heights for small wind turbines
- Towers 2—Considerations for wind turbine towers
- Towers 3—Tower height versus power
- Towers 4—Tower cost versus power
- Towers 5—Tall tower economics
- Urban Turbines and Kinetic Architecture-Just What Are We Demonstrating?
- Vertical axis wind turbine myths
- Warwick Urban Wind Trial Project
- What You Need To Understand About a Wind Turbine for Your Home
- Wind Turbine Buyers Guide - 2007
- Zoning 1--Trials and tribulations
- Zoning 2--Keeping hearings under control
- Zoning 3--Zoning obstacles
- Zoning 4--Perceptions and local concerns
- Zoning 5--Barriers to small wind systems
- Zoning 6--Protecting your right
-
Zoning for Distributed Wind--J. Green and M. Sagrillo
Toolbox - Fact Sheets for Permits and Zoning Hearings
- Abandonment
- Aesthetics
- Assessment of Risk Due To Ice
- Bats
- Birds
- Small Turbines and Birds
- Wind Turbines and Birds - Focus on Energy Factsheet
- Bird Mortaility by Percentage Histogram
- A Study of Bird and Bat Mortality at Orion Energy Systems During the 2010 Fall Migration - Manitowoc, WI
- A Study of the Potential Effects of a Small Wind Turbine on Bird and Bat Mortality at Tom Ridge Environmental Center, Erie, Pennsylvania
- Wisconsin DNR Letter -- Position on Small Wind Turbines
- Wisconsin DNR Letter for Shawano Small Turbine Permit -- Wind Turbines and Wildlife
- Bird Mortality Studies - Small Wind Turbine Research & Demonstration Site on Beech Mountain, NC
- Beech Mountain Wind Farm Carcass Monitoring Method
- Carcass Monitoring Report - Migration Spring 2005
- Carcass Monitoring Report - Migration Fall 2005
- Epilepsy and Other Such Ruses
- FAA
- Fences
- Ice shedding
- Why Wind Turbines can Spin but not Throw Ice
- Lightning
- Sound
- Net metering and zoning
- Payback
- Property values
- Setbacks
- Shadow flicker and strobing
- Small Rooftop Wind Turbines
- Stray voltage
- Tower engineering for building permits
- Tower heights and zoning hearings
-
Towers,
foundations, and inspections
- Tower Styles
- TV and communications interference
-
Visibility
- Focus on
Energy Fact Sheets/Case Studies
-Using wind energy: small-scale systems
-Wind turbines and birds: Putting the situation in perspective in WI
-Doing Business with Wind Energy
-Owning a PV/Wind Hybrid System: Being Your -Own Utility
Toolbox - Zoning and Permitting
Toolbox - Information for Wind Site Assessors and Installers
Toolbox - Wisconsin Specific Information
Applications and Forms
FAA
Wisconsin - Interconnection
- Application Flow Chart in WI Interconnection Guidelines
- Introduction to Distributed Generation
- PSC 119 Rules for Interconnection
- PSC 6027-Application Form for up to 20 kW
- PSC 6028-Application Form for 20 kW to 15 MW
- PSC 6029-Agreement Form for up to 20kW
- PSC 6030-Agreement Form for 20 kW to 15 MW
- Utility Data Release Form
- Utility Designated Points of Contact for Interconnection
- Wisconsin Interconnection Guidelines-April, 2004
Wisconsin Electrical Codes
- Department of Commerce Chapter 16
- PSC 113-Service Rules for Electric Utilities
-
PSC 114-Wisconsin State Electric Code
Wisconsin - Funding Opportunities
Focus on Energy Program
- Program Services for eligible customers of participating electric and natural gas utilities (may include selected incentives toward installation of wind energy equipment)
USDA Section Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) - Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Funding For Farms and Rural Small Businesses
- Grants & Loan Guarantee Overview
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture -- Rural Development Website - U.S. Dept. of Agriculture -- Wisconsin Rural Development Website
Wisconsin - Legal
- Letter from Assistant Attorney Gen Blythe to Town of Byron (on 66.0401)
- UW-Extension letter on the small wind zoning ordinance
- WI State Statute 66.0401
- WI State Statute 70.111
- WI State Statute 236.292
Wisconsin - Zoning
- WI State Statute 66.0401
- Appeals Court Decision on Mequon
- FERC Enforces PURPA in Iowa
- FERC Upholds Net Metering Law
- Letter from Attny General Lautenschlauger (on 66.0401)
- Letter from Assis Attny General to Town of Byron (on 66.0401)
- Letter to Doyle (on 66.0401)
- ST. Croix Falls Circuit Court Decision
- Supreme Court Refusal to Hear Mequon Case
- WI Renewables Statute Table
