Announcements
t’s been an exciting week! WETO has been hard at work with this week’s Floating Offshore Wind Shot™ Summit, which brought together federal government leaders and a broad range of parties to affirm a shared vision of wide-scale floating offshore wind energy deployment. If you didn’t get to attend, don’t worry—we’re here to shoot the breeze and recap the biggest announcements from the summit. Let’s dive in! 🏄 (Oh, and be sure to stay tuned for recorded sessions from the summit, which will be posted online soon.)
Biden-Harris Administration Expands Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership
Last year, President Biden joined East Coast governors to launch the Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership, with 11 states working alongside the administration to maximize the benefits of Atlantic offshore wind energy development for workers and communities. Now, following the recent California offshore wind auction and ahead of the proposed Gulf of Mexico auction, both California and Louisiana are joining the partnership to collaborate with federal agencies and other states on priorities including building an American supply chain and skilled workforce for offshore wind.Â
DOE’s WETO and Grid Deployment Office are launching a study on transmission options to support offshore wind energy development along the U.S. West Coast in the Pacific Ocean through 2050, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act. This study will evaluate multiple pathways to meet offshore wind energy goals while supporting grid reliability and resilience and ocean co-use. Led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, this study will build on the West Coast Offshore Wind Transmission Literature and Gaps Analysis by addressing some of its identified gaps.
The West Coast Offshore Wind Transmission Literature Review and Gaps Analysis, authored by PNNL and published by WETO this week, reviews 13 existing studies that evaluate offshore wind energy transmission through potential points of interconnection along the coastlines of California, Oregon, and Washington—and identifies gaps and observations the wind energy industry must address to fully develop offshore wind energy off the nation’s West Coast.
WETO and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s co-funded floating scientific research buoy—upgraded with two onboard cameras, an independent power supply for the GPS and navigation lights, and a new backup generator—is stationed approximately 15 miles east of O’ahu, Hawai’i, to collect accurate offshore wind resource, meteorological, and oceanographic data. The data collected by the PNNL-managed buoy could allow scientists to compare wind model predictions with actual data, preparing Hawai’i for floating offshore wind energy development.Â
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 Photo from AXYS Technologies and Ragu Krishnamurthy and Mark Severy, PNNL
The California Energy Commission announced it plans to join the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium as a state member. California will be the consortium's seventh state member and the first state member on the West Coast. Launched in 2017 with funding from DOE, the consortium was designed to address technological barriers and lower the costs and risks of offshore wind energy in the United States. Pending final approval at their upcoming business meeting, California and the consortium will collaborate to fund research and development projects that directly respond to critical, near-term offshore wind energy development priorities.
DOE is working with Sandia National Laboratories and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to develop an industry-informed road map for the development of new operations and maintenance technologies and processes to enhance the cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and performance reliability of operations and maintenance tasks at offshore wind energy sites. The road map will identify current industry knowledge gaps and emerging technology solutions that are primed for government investment.
News
To accelerate domestic clean energy manufacturing and ensure traditionally underserved communities benefit from clean energy technologies, DOE is partnering with the U.S. Department of the Treasury to implement two programs funded by the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act:Â
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The Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program (48e) advances the Biden administration’s commitments to equity and environmental justice by promoting clean energy investments, including wind energy, in low-income communities and on tribal land.
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The Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Credit Program (48c) intends to release around $4 billion in a first round of tax credits for projects that expand U.S. supply chains for clean energy technologies, including wind energy technologies. The program will provide an investment tax credit of up to 30% of qualified investments for certified projects that meet prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements.
Additionally, DOE opened applications for the Advanced Energy Manufacturing and Recycling Grant Program, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The program is investing $350 million for small- and medium-sized manufacturers, including those in wind energy, to produce or recycle advanced energy properties used to support clean energy supply chains in energy communities.
WETO focuses on enabling industry growth and U.S. competitiveness by supporting early-stage research on technologies that enhance domestic energy affordability, reliability, and resilience. To bolster these goals, WETO has put together an updated fact sheet that outlines federal incentives for developing and investing in wind power, including new tax credits through the Inflation Reduction Act, resources for funding wind power, and opportunities to partner with DOE and other federal agencies on efforts to move the U.S. wind energy industry forward.
 The Lakota Nation installed this 65-kilowatt Nordtank turbine that annually supplies 120 megawatt-hours of power to KILI, the Pine Ridge Reservation radio station, known as the voice of the Lakota Nation in South Dakota. Photo from Bob Gough, National Renewable Energy Laboratory 16258
With support from DOE, the New York State Environmental Technical Working Group has created a database that compiles data gaps and research needs for the environmental effects of offshore wind energy development along the U.S. Atlantic Coast. The recommendations in the database were collected from existing scientific articles, reports, and other sources. The database allows users to easily access, filter, and sort data gaps and research needs.Â
The Ocean Energy Safety Institute, funded by DOE and others, published a research road map for wind energy that identifies strategic targets and pathways based on needs and gaps. The wind energy road map outlines three targets: safe installation, operation, maintenance and decommissioning of offshore wind energy systems; reduction of human exposure to hazards during installation, operation, maintenance and decommissioning of offshore wind energy systems; and training strategies and tools for workforce development.
Clean Energy Champions
This edition’s Clean Energy Champion, Jason Jonkman, is a powerhouse of innovation.
A principal engineer at NREL, Jonkman is the lead developer of both OpenFAST and FAST.Farm, which are multiphysics engineering tools for designing and analyzing land-based and offshore wind turbines and wind farms.
He even recently won a coveted Viterna Award for Excellence in Engineering for helping launch the floating offshore wind sector through computer modeling of dynamic loads.Â
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Events
Conference: Feb. 27–March 1, 2023, Arlington, VA, and Virtual
Let’s talk distributed wind energy! Learn about new technology, services, and business opportunities from industry experts and federal leaders—including WETO’s own Patrick Gilman, Distributed Wind Energy Association President Mike Bergey, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Mark Bolinger, National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Suzanne McDonald, Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Mitchelle Rencheck, Sandia National Laboratory’s Rachid Darbali-Zamora, and many others—regarding the distributed wind energy industry. Whether you attend in person or virtually, this is an event not to miss for the distributed wind energy community.Â
Conference: Feb. 28–Mar. 1, 2023, Portland, ORÂ
The Pacific Ocean Energy Trust will host experts and leaders from around the Pacific Northwest for a two-day deep dive into offshore wind energy. Attendees will include members of wind energy development companies, government agencies, national labs, universities, and the nonprofit sector. Â
Conference: Mar. 22–24, 2023, Washington, D.C.Â
This three-day conference and technology showcase brings together experts from multiple disciplines and professional communities to think about America’s energy challenges. Innovation is the name of the game at this event as we aim to move transformational energy technologies from the lab to the market.Â
Webinar: March 2, 2023, 1 p.m. ET, Virtual
Join WETO’s WINDExchange initiative for a webinar on the current state and future needs of the U.S. offshore wind energy workforce and supply chain. Learn more about the increasing demands on manufacturing, ports, vessels, and related gaps and opportunities for a domestic workforce and a detailed analysis presented by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s recent workforce and supply chain reports. Register to attend the webinar—even if you can’t make the live event! After the webinar, a recording will be sent to all registrants.
Webinar: March 2, 2023, 12–2 p.m. ET, Virtual
Join DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for an interactive webinar, titled Energize Your Career: Virtual Career Fair for New Graduates, a networking opportunity for new graduates to hear from Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy employees about their diverse roles in renewable power, sustainable transportation, energy efficiency, and business operations. Get ready to learn how you can help build our clean energy future as a Clean Energy Champion. Register today.
Conference: March 28–30, 2023, Baltimore, MD
Hosted by the Business Network for Offshore Wind, this three-day offshore wind energy conference will consist of panels and presentations that will bring together the global offshore wind industry and offer the latest in educational content. Stop by DOE’s booth, #640, to learn about WETO’s latest DOE-funded research and newest offshore wind energy initiatives.
In Case You Missed It
- DOE’s Grid Deployment Office released a National Transmission Needs Study for public comment.
- What role can renewable energy play in improving a community’s energy resilience? Find these answers by visiting the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project application page and registering for the April 11, 2023, webinar.Â
- The Port Infrastructure Development Program is accepting applications for projects that improve the safety, efficiency, or reliability of the movement of goods into, out of, around, or within a port—including to enable the deployment of offshore wind energy.
- In a new research and development article, we cover how we’re working with multiple national laboratories to ensure that cybersecurity remains an essential component of wind energy.Â
- DOE announced the 13 teams selected to participate in Phase 2 of the 2023 Collegiate Wind Competition!Â
- DOE requested information on university-based wind centers and co-location of aquaculture with ocean renewable energy. The deadline to submit concept papers is 5 p.m. ET on March 15, 2023.
- DOE launched a $30 million funding opportunity to improve wind turbine composite materials. The deadline to submit concept papers is 5 p.m. ET on March 23, 2023.
- DOE will now cover the cost of preliminary reviews for distributed wind turbine certification.
- Check out our new guide that helps communities better understand what happens when a wind energy project reaches the end of its service.
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