Hi Reddit! When most people think about producing electricity at a private business or residence, they think of solar panels on rooftops. This is one form of ‘distributed energy’ or distributed generation. Just like rooftop solar panel, distributed wind systems can also produce electricity that is consumed on site or locally. A growing number of business owners and homeowners are using distributed wind power, thanks to innovative business models and other trends – all documented in a report our team prepared for the Department of Energy. What is distributed wind power? It is wind power generated near where it will be used rather than being generated at large wind farms and then transmitted to the power grid. Distributed wind can range from a small, solitary turbine at a remote cabin to several large turbines powering a manufacturing facility. I like to call distributed wind “clean, homegrown energy.” ** Thank you Reddit, I’ve enjoyed fielding your questions and will check back in later to follow up on these threads. Once again, the Department of Energy’s Distributed Wind Market Report is at http://energy.gov/eere/wind/downloads/2016-distributed-wind-market-report. I also encourage you to follow PNNL on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PNNLgov and Twitter at @PNNLab and for more energy-focused topics on Twitter, @energyPNNL. You’ll also find PNNL on Google+ and LinkedIn. Thanks!