Catch the Wind: Nine Teams Advance in Floating Offshore Wind Energy Prize 🌬️🌊

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Wind Energy Technologies Office

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Mar. 30, 2023

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Continue to follow the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) for the latest news, events, and updates.


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Did You Know?

To capture the abundant wind resources available over the ocean, offshore turbines can be scaled up to 1.5 times the height of the Washington Monument with blades the length of an American football field.

Check out our website to learn how we’re working to take U.S. offshore wind energy to new heights!


Announcements

DOE Releases Comprehensive Offshore Wind Energy Strategy

DOE announced the release of its Offshore Wind Energy Strategy, a comprehensive summary of DOE's role in the nationwide effort to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030 and set the nation on a pathway to 110 gigawatts or more by 2050. This strategy focuses DOE’s offshore wind efforts into four pillars:

  • NOW: Lower costs by 2030 to develop a domestic supply chain, and inform sustainable, just deployment of fixed-bottom offshore wind energy. 
  • FORWARD: Achieve the Floating Offshore Wind Shot™ goal of reducing cost by over 70% by 2035, establish U.S. leadership in floating offshore wind technology design and manufacturing, and inform sustainable, just deployment of floating offshore wind.
  • CONNECT: Enable reliable and resilient transmission solutions for large-scale offshore wind energy grid interconnection. 
  • TRANSFORM: Expand offshore wind co-generation technologies—which use offshore wind energy to produce another energy solution, such as hydrogen—for widespread electrification and decarbonization. 

Nine Teams Advance to Phase Two of Floating Offshore Wind Energy Prize

Illustration of floating offshore wind turbines and prize seal.

DOE announced nine winners of the first phase of the FLoating Offshore Wind ReadINess (FLOWIN) Prize, which aims to help unlock the nation’s offshore wind energy potential by accelerating manufacturing and deployment of U.S. floating offshore wind energy technology. The three-phase FLOWIN Prize, which is the first prize funded by WETO, was launched in September 2022 in support of the interagency Floating Offshore Wind Shot. Find out which teams were selected to each receive $100,000 cash and $75,000 in vouchers for technical support through DOE’s national laboratories, along with an invitation to move on to Phase Two of the competition.

WETO Expands Funding to Small Business to Advance Wind Blade Recycling

Turbine blade.

WETO has announced $1 million in funding, supported by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to Carbon Rivers in an effort to advance wind blade recycling and increase wind energy’s sustainability. A small business based in Knoxville, Tennessee, Carbon Rivers receives this funding under Phase III of DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research program. The company’s innovative process converts glass fiber recovered from retired wind turbine blades into material that can be used in future composite manufacturing. This additional funding will be used by Carbon Rivers to further improve their wind turbine blade recycling technology. 

DOE Will Fund Offshore Wind Centers of Excellence

DOE plans to release a funding opportunity that will create one or more university-led Centers of Excellence to increase offshore wind expertise at U.S. universities, develop partnerships to address key offshore wind development challenges, and educate the next generation of offshore wind experts in the United States. This effort aspires to accelerate and maximize the effectiveness, reliability, and sustainability of U.S. offshore wind energy deployment and operation. This funding opportunity is expected to go live in April 2023.

DOE Announces $150 Million for Research on the Science Foundations for Energy Earthshots

DOE announced $150 million for research into the crosscutting foundational science for multiple Energy Earthshots, including the Floating Offshore Wind Shot. The awards supported by this funding opportunity will bring together small teams focused on the crosscutting scientific challenges addressing multiple Energy Earthshots. Applications are open to all accredited U.S. colleges and universities, not-for-profit organizations, and private sector companies. The submission deadline for pre-applications is 5 p.m. ET on April 25, 2023.


Clean Energy Champions

Meet Clean Energy Champion Alicia Mahon

 Alicia M. Mahon, Ph.D., PMP | PNNL

Representing DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), this month’s Clean Energy Champion is wind energy program manager Alicia Mahon! Mahon recently served as guest editor for a special issue of the Marine Technology Society Journal, which focused on advancements in buoy technology—a topic with which she is quite familiar. Before assuming the PNNL wind energy program manager role in January 2022, Mahon managed PNNL's lidar buoy program for several years. 

We thank Mahon for all her work with buoy technology. It has certainly contributed to keeping the U.S. offshore wind industry afloat. ⛵


Events

Collegiate Wind Competition 2023

Competition: May 15–18, 2023, Boulder, CO

Join us at the 2023 Collegiate Wind Competition as multidisciplinary university teams present the culmination of their work in wind energy over the past year. Find more information on the event website.

CLEANPOWER 2023 Conference and Exhibition 

Conference: May 22–25, 2023, New Orleans, LA 

The American Clean Power Association’s annual conference will feature panels, presentations, workshops, and poster sessions on the renewable energy industry, including land-based wind energy, offshore wind energy, distributed wind energy, solar power, energy storage, and transmission. Be sure to stop by DOE’s booth, #1623, to discuss all the latest wind R&D with our team! Find more information on the event website.

Transmission and Interconnection Summit 2023

Conference: June 12–13, 2023, Arlington, VA

The Transmission & Interconnection Summit 2023 will bring together the leading policymakers, senior executives, and leading experts, including DOE’s Jian Fu who will kick off the conference, working to reimagine interconnection and transmission planning processes to meet the needs of the clean energy transition. 

American Floating Offshore Wind Technical Summit 2023

Conference: Sept. 26–27, 2023, Portland, ME, and Virtual

This 2-day conference brings together industry, academia, and government floating offshore wind experts from around the world to chart a course for domestic floating offshore wind energy. Whether in person or virtually, join this event to participate in discussions on the technical, regulatory, and permitting challenges that must be addressed to unlock floating offshore wind energy’s significant potential.


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