A local startup has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to pilot its wind turbines as part of the Green Proving Ground program.
The DOE's Building Technologies Office and the U.S. General Services Administration’s Green Proving Ground program selected 20 novel building technologies to test in real-world buildings that could help commercial buildings decarbonize.
Accelerate Wind's wind turbine that can be installed at the edge of the building roof and complement rooftop solar will be piloted as part of the program.
These American-made technologies were chosen in response to GSA’s most recent Request for Information, which sought recommendations of technologies that could improve the operating efficiency of commercial buildings while promoting healthy workplaces; enable whole-building electrification; facilitate greenhouse gas reductions; provide on-site energy generation and storage systems; or deliver electric vehicle fleet and load management solutions. Funding through the Inflation Reduction Act enabled GSA to expand this program to support GSA’s goals to achieve a 65% reduction in GHG by 2030 and net-zero operational emissions by 2045.
“This significant expansion of the Green Proving Ground program is a prime example of how President (Joe) Biden’s Investing in America agenda is driving the next generation of clean energy jobs and innovation,” said Robin Carnahan, administrator of the GSA. “Across the country, we’re turning federal buildings into testbeds for clean energy innovation, which will mean more good jobs, savings for taxpayers, and a healthier planet for our kids.”
The focus of this year’s GPG program is on American-made technologies in seven areas: Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment technologies, Germicidal Ultraviolet technologies, Greenhouse Gas Accounting technologies, Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings, High-Performance technologies, Onsite Renewables and Window Retrofit technologies.
Accelerate Wind's tech is part of the Onsite Renewables focus.
As the federal government’s landlord, GSA manages a nationwide real estate portfolio of nearly 370 million rentable square feet and oversees approximately $75 billion in annual contracts that serve millions of people across dozens of federal agencies. GSA’s Green Proving Ground program aims to leverage this real estate portfolio to evaluate innovative building technologies in real-world settings, which helps GSA and DOE validate the technical characteristics and potential of these technologies for wide-scale adoption. GSA then uses these results to make investment decisions in next generation building technologies.
