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reviewed both internally and externally prior to publication for purposes of external review and the study benefited from the advice and comments from a dozen individuals representing wind industry consulting firms, state agencies, wind turbine manufacturers, and other federal laboratories.

Between 2003 and the end of 2015, over 75,000 wind turbines, totaling 934 MW in cumulative capacity, were deployed in distributed applications across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 2015, 28 states added 28 MW of new distributed wind capacity, representing 1,713 turbine units and $102 million in investment. While the number of units installed increased slightly, capacity additions and investments decreased compared to 2014, when 63.6 MW of new distributed wind capacity from nearly 1,700 turbines was added, representing $170 million in investment across 24 states. In 2015, 4.3 MW of small wind (turbines up through 100 kW) was deployed in the United States, representing 1,695 units and over $21 million in investment. This is slightly higher than in 2014 (3.7 MW of small wind, approximately 1,600 units, and $20 million in investment), but down from 2013 (5.6 MW, approximately 2,700 units, and $36 million investment). U.S. small wind manufacturers accounted for nearly 100% of 2015 domestic small wind sales. A total of 23.7 MW of capacity was installed in 2015 using turbines greater than 100 kW in distributed applications. Three of the five manufacturers and suppliers of these turbines, representing 9.4 MW and ten turbine units, were not based in the United States. A total of 14.3 MW and eight turbine units were from the two U.S.-based manufacturers or suppliers. Ohio, Nebraska, and Connecticut led the United States in new distributed wind power capacity additions in 2015 as a result of larger project installations in those states. California, New York, and Minnesota led the nation for small wind capacity deployment in 2015.

Cost reductions in these high-cost categories could significantly impact distributed wind system costs. However, this report is not a cost-reduction roadmap, nor does it address how susceptible each cost category is to cost-reduction. To move from this initial cost benchmark to identifying robust costreduction opportunities, additional data must be obtained to expand the dataset, cost models must be developed for certain cost categories, and the components of each cost category must be analyzed to determine what is driving the high costs and the high variances in some cost categories. Those actions will provide data-driven justifications for future cost-reduction actions.

From 2003 through 2016, a total of 992 MW in cumulative capacity from over 77,000 wind turbines was deployed in distributed applications across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), and Guam. In 2016, 25 states and Guam added a combined 45.4 MW of new distributed wind capacity, representing 2,585 turbine units and $163 million in investment. Of the 45.4 MW, 43 MW is from turbines greater than 100 kW, and 2.4 MW is from small wind (turbines up through 100 kW). Rhode Island, Minnesota, and Massachusetts led the United States in new distributed wind power capacity in 2016. The 43 MW from turbines greater than 100 kW installed in distributed applications in 2016 represents $149 million in investment, an increase from 23.7 MW and $81 million in 2015. The increase was driven mainly by the installation of multiple large (greater than 1 MW) turbine projects, mostly installed behind the meter, or remote net metered, for industrial operations and municipalities. The 2.4 MW of small wind deployed in the United States in 2016 represents 2,560 units and more than $14 million in investment. This continued the downward trend of recent years and was the lowest small wind annual capacity addition recorded since this annual report was started in 2012. However, while overall capacity is down-driven by the decrease in sales of units sized from 11 kW to 100 kW-sales of units 10 kW and less increased from 2015.