Summary
The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NLR), operated by Alliance for Energy Innovation, LLC, has issued a Pre-Solicitation Notice announcing its intent to publish a Request for Proposal under the Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP) to support continued innovation in distributed wind energy systems in 2026. Through CIP, NLR awards firm fixed-price subcontracts with price participation and technical assistance via a competitive process to U.S. manufacturers of small- and medium-sized wind turbine technology. The solicitation targets innovation in optimized distributed wind turbine and power electronics designs, advanced manufacturing, certification testing, and commercialization.