US Invests $18.5 Mln in Offshore Wind Research

U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry announced $18.5 million in new Department of Energy (DOE) funding for a consortium that will conduct research aimed at reducing the cost of offshore wind in the U.S.

As it seeks to capitalize on momentum in the offshore wind market, the U.S. still faces several challenges, such as deep water requiring floating foundations, the need for models predicting how Atlantic hurricanes will impact offshore turbines, and supply chain and operations and maintenance solutions to address the challenges of building and maintaining turbines at sea.

Setting out to tackle these challenges and more, the new offshore wind research and development (R&D) consortium will be a cooperative private-public innovation hub addressing wind plant technology advancement, resource and physical site characterization, installation, operations and maintenance and supply chain technology solutions.

“As the former Governor of one of the largest wind producing states, I know the value of wind power in our energy portfolio,” Secretary Perry said. “This work will further DOE’s goal to accelerate the development of offshore wind technologies by supporting fundamental research to reduce the costs of offshore wind energy to successfully compete in regional energy markets.”

Under the competitive funding opportunity announcement, DOE said it intends to select an administrator to coordinate the collaborative R&D activities conducted by the consortium. The consortium will include members of the offshore wind industry, who will contribute funds to the consortium and use the research findings to further advance technologies. In addition to this $18.5 million funding opportunity announcement, $2 million will also be allocated to research at DOE’s national laboratories to support consortium R&D activities.