What is CSW?

Community Supported Wind Energy is conceptually similar to Community Supported Agriculture where individuals pay ahead for goods produced by a local farm. In the wind energy model, you’re paying a onetime subscription fee for a percentage of the power produced by a local wind turbine for the next 20 years. These subscription funds help pay the upfront costs to erect a community wind turbine. Then a percentage of the power produced by the turbine is used to pay down your electric utility bill though a process we call Virtual Net Metering (VNM). VNM is a system where the Utility company pays a wind project for the power it produces (the “big” check) and a percentage of each payment (the “little” check) is then paid by the project to each subscriber’s utility account.