Abstract
Built-environment wind turbine (BEWT) projects are wind energy projects that are constructed on, in, or near buildings. These projects present an opportunity for distributed, low-carbon generation combined with highly visible statements on sustainability, but the BEWT niche of the wind industry is still developing and is relatively less mature than the utility-scale wind or conventional ground-based distributed wind sectors. The findings from this report cannot be extended to wind energy deployments in general because of the large difference in application and technology maturity.
This paper investigates the current state of the BEWT industry by reviewing available literature on BEWT projects as well as interviewing project owners on their experiences deploying and operating the technology. The authors generated a series of case studies that outlines the pertinent project details, project outcomes, and lessons learned. This paper integrates those information sources into recommended practices that can be utilized by future stakeholders to evaluate the feasibility of BEWTs for their unique applications and sites. It should be noted that due to the lack of available information, the case studies were limited to building-mounted designs with limited coverage of building-integrated turbines (in which the architectural structure is shaped to support wind generation). The recommended practices are still largely applicable to any built-environment technology or approach.