October 17, 2022

In This Issue

The Fall 2022 edition of the Wind Research and Development (R&D) Newsletter highlights efforts by Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories and industry partners that are helping the United States reach our clean energy goals.

• Current Research & Development
• Letter From the WETO Acting Director
• DOE News
• Funding News
• Featured Publications

Current Research & Development

Carbon Rivers Makes Wind Turbine Blade Recycling and Upcycling a Reality With Support From DOE A new fiberglass recycling technology is helping to develop a circular wind turbine economy while creating jobs and revitalizing a historic site.

Grand Challenges To Close the Gaps in Offshore Wind Energy Research In a collaborative study published in Wind Energy Science, a team led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory examined offshore wind energy challenges and laid out future approaches needed to meet them.

DOE Launches New Initiative To Improve Clean Energy Interconnection The Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X) is designed to help clean energy resources connect to the grid, which will improve overall grid reliability, market competition, transmission, and distribution access.

Earth Scientist Lindsay Sheridan Emphasizes Need for Wind Energy Communication and Community Engagement A Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researcher shares her thoughts on the evolving potential of wind energy and how future scientists can get involved.

Learning a Better Way To Forecast Wind and Solar Energy Costs A new study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory published in the journal iScience uses a new methodology to predict patterns for utility-scale wind and solar energy costs and concludes that they will progressively decline in the coming years.

NREL Tool Aims To Predict Interactions Between Soaring Eagles and Wind Turbines A new simulator, developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, allows users to model the movements of soaring raptors, such as golden eagles and bald eagles, which prefer to ride updrafts at the same altitudes as wind turbine blades.

Researchers Study Concrete as an Alternative to Steel for Wind Turbine Foundations and Towers The use of concrete support structures for offshore wind turbines offers many potential advantages over towers comprised of only steel, including greater durability, a longer lifespan, increased local labor opportunities, and much quieter installations.

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Letter From the WETO Acting Director, Jim Ahlgrimm

DOE's Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) has shared a lot of exciting news in 2022 so far, and even more is set to blow in just beyond the horizon. WETO launched the FLoating Offshore Wind ReadINess (FLOWIN) Prize—a three-phase, $6.9-million competition designed to pave the way for cost-effective domestic manufacturing and deployment of commercial-scale floating offshore wind energy in the United States. We also got two big wins for wind in the form of the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Both laws will help provide certainty for the wind industry’s future while delivering hefty doses of momentum in getting us there. Read the letter

DOE is ready to go even deeper in its fight against climate change with the launch of the Floating Offshore Wind Shot™, a new interagency initiative led by DOE and the U.S. Departments of the Interior, Commerce, and Transportation to grow the amount of renewable energy available in the United States by driving the development of an untapped, clean energy resource—floating offshore wind energy.

Learn more

DOE News

The following is a list of wind energy news from WETO.

DOE Finds Record Production and Job Growth in U.S. Wind Power Sector: New DOE wind energy market reports highlight advances in domestic development and deployment, now generating enough energy to power 40 million homes.

How Wind Energy Can Help Us Breathe Easier: Learn how wind energy can provide health and climate benefits that outweigh its costs.

Wind Turbines: the Bigger, the Better: Since the early 2000s, wind turbines have grown in size—in both height and blade lengths—and generate more energy. What’s driving this growth? Let’s take a closer look.

Berkeley Lab Analyzes Drivers of Solar and Wind Project Siting Patterns: In a new journal article, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory explore the potential energy justice implications of both solar and wind energy project siting patterns.

NREL Releases Databases of Local Ordinances for Siting Wind and Solar Energy Projects: The National Renewable Energy Laboratory released two new databases of state and local wind and solar energy zoning laws and ordinances in the United States. The data is machine readable so geospatial analysts and researchers can analyze siting impacts.

Modeling Exactly Where Distributed Energy Resources Could Provide the Most Value to the Grid: NREL has made a big leap forward by adding new data and capabilities to the Distributed Generation Market Demand (dGen) model.

DOE Announces Winners of 2022 Collegiate Wind Competition and 2023 Phase 1 Participants: DOE convened universities and wind energy experts from around the country in the 2022 Collegiate Wind Competition. Kansas State University rose above 11 other competing teams to claim first place in the annual event. Additionally, thirty teams will participate in Phase 1 of the 2023 DOE Collegiate Wind Competition, which will take place during the first half of the 2022–2023 school year.

DOE Joins New Federal-State Partnership to Grow Domestic Offshore Wind Supply Chain: New Partnership Will Advance Rapid U.S. Offshore Wind Deployment, Create Good-Paying Jobs to Equitably Benefit Local Communities, and Increase Energy Security.

Experts Forecast the Wind Plant of the Future to Be Taller and More Economical: Researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory predict that by 2035, wind plant designs will embrace towers even taller than previously thought.

New Journal Article Identifies Requirements for Procedural Justice in Wind Energy Development: Expanding wind energy deployment requires communities to host wind projects, and research has shown that communities are more willing to host wind energy when they feel the planning process has been fair.

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Funding News

DOE Launches Prize to Accelerate Domestic Supply Chains for Floating Offshore Wind Energy: The FLOWIN Prize, a $5.75-million competition, is designed to help develop a domestic supply chain and accelerate market readiness of floating offshore wind energy designs in the United States.

Biden-Harris Administration Announces $26 Million Program From Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to Demonstrate How U.S. Power Grid Can Run on 100% Clean Energy: Funding will support projects that will demonstrate that America's electricity grid can reliably run with a mix of solar, wind, energy storage, and other clean distributed energy resources.

New Funding Partnerships Explore Coexistence of Bats and Wind Energy, and Monitor Bat Acoustics: The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is funding projects through its Enabling Coexistence Options for Wind Energy and Wildlife program to improve our understanding of why and how bats interact with wind turbines. Additionally, the Electric Power Research Institute will monitor bat acoustics. The institute’s goal is to better understand the environmental conditions likely to attract bat activity, with a focus on potential wind energy development areas.

Sea Grant, DOE, NOAA Fisheries Fund Six Projects for the Coexistence of Offshore Energy with Northeast Fishing and Coastal Communities: The Northeast Sea Grant Consortium announced six projects to advance social science and technology research on offshore renewable energy in the Northeast United States.

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Featured Publications