Small Wind Turbine Certification

Summary

In Oregon, electrical equipment must be certified prior to installation. The Alternative Certification for Installation of Small Wind Turbines, enacted with a temporary rule in July 2009 and a final rule in October 2009, created an expedited and streamlined process for small wind turbine certification to reduce cost and delays created by individual certification of turbines. Under the rule, small wind turbines with a capacity of 100 kilowatts (kW) or less do not have to be individually certified. A turbine manufacturer must submit one turbine for field evaluation, attesting that all other turbines of that model are the same. If the product design is approved by an Oregon licensed professional electrical engineer and the turbine passes the field evaluation, then the other turbines of that model do not need to be individually certified. Inverters must be listed or labeled by a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory. This rule will expire in January 2011. At that time, national certification standards for small wind turbines should be in place.