Small Wind Energy Systems Seminar
DISCLAIMER
Before purchasing, review the rules of your licensing or certifying entity. It is your responsibility to confirm this course meets your CE requirements. See the credit tab on the course page for details.
What’s Included: Full webinar recording, written course materials, expert instruction, a mandatory quiz, and a certificate upon completion.
Deliverability Timeline: All courses are generally available within 1-2 weeks after the live presentation.
CE Credits: AIA and/or LA/CES accreditation is available by request for courses recorded prior to March 11, 2026. All courses after that date include those accreditations by default, if applicable. With these accreditations, our courses qualify for credit in nearly all states for engineers, surveyors, architects, and landscape architects.
Learn more about the on-demand format in our FAQ or contact us at (715) 835-5900 or customerservice@halfmoonseminars.org
Agenda
Registration: 8:00 – 8:30 am
Morning Session: 8:30 am – 12:00 pm
Lunch (On your own): 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Afternoon Session: 1:00 – 4:30 pm
Introduction to Wind
Resources
Short history of wind
Turbine Characteristics
Downwind/upwind
Horizontal axis/vertical axis
Low speed/high speed
Direct drive/gear drive
Constant speed/variable speed
Collector size/swept area
Drag devices/airfoils
Blades
Alternators and Speed Control
Alternators
Radial and axial
Speed control
Active and passive
Towers
Guyed lattice, lattice, tilt up tower, monopole
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
Foundations
Assessing Sites for Small Wind Energy Systems
The wind resource – wind quality and wind quantity
Finding wind resource at hub height
Siting wind
Measuring trees and obstacles
Establishing minimum hub heights
Sizing and Pricing a Wind System
Size categories
Cabin, home, small commercial/farm
Sizing a wind system
Pricing a wind systems
Energy efficiency
Small Wind System Types
Utility inter-tied
Utility inter-tied with batteries
PV/wind hybrid
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Case studies – things that work and things that don’t
Credits
Architects
6.5 HSW Contact Hours
6.5 AIA HSW Learning Units
Professional Engineers
6.5 Contact Hours (PDHs)
Contractors
Non-Mandatory Cont. Ed.
Continuing Education Credit Information
This seminar is open to the public and offers up to 6.5 HSW continuing education hours to architects and 6.5 PDHs for professional engineers in all states. Educators and courses are not subject to preapproval in Kansas.
This seminar is approved by the American Institute of Architects for 6.5 HSW Learning Units (Sponsor No. J885).
HalfMoon Education is an approved continuing education sponsor for architects in Florida and is deemed an approved sponsor in New York. HalfMoon Education is an approved continuing education sponsor for engineers in Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey (Approval No. 24GP00000700), New York (NYSED Sponsor No. 35), North Carolina, and North Dakota.
This seminar provides a continuing education opportunity to contractors. It has not been submitted to any state contractor licensing board for continuing education approval.
Attendance will be monitored, and attendance certificates will be available after the seminar for most individuals who complete the entire event. Attendance certificates not available at the seminar will be mailed to participants within fifteen business days.
Speakers
Clay Sterling
Clay Sterling Midwest Renewable Energy Association
Mr. Sterling has been instructing both solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind courses at the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA) for over ten years and is an Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) certified instructor in both PV and small wind energy. He has a construction background gained from working in his family’s plumbing shop and working nine years as a commercial electrician on large construction projects. In 2009, Wisconsin’s K-12 Energy Education Program named him the “Non-Formal Energy Educator of the Year.” He also received the “Clean Energy Trainer of the Year’’ award in 2013 from the IREC.