Last year, the U.S. offshore wind project pipeline grew by 53% from the previous year—enough to power more than 26 million homes if fully developed! And as the U.S. offshore wind industry grows, so does the number of good-paying job opportunities and the demand to fill them in communities across the nation. To meet the U.S. offshore wind industry’s growing workforce needs, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) announced a nearly $2 million funding opportunity to support U.S. providers of offshore wind workforce education and training programs. Applications are due December 13, 2024.
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DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) opened up applications for up to $400 million in funding to spur innovative, community-focused, clean energy solutions, including distributed wind, in rural and remote areas across the United States. This funding opportunity allows eligible entities to demonstrate new business models and replicable distributed wind applications for rural and remote communities—which also aligns with the objectives of the joint U.S. Department of Agriculture and DOE Rural and Agricultural Income and Savings from Renewable Energy Initiative.
This OCED funding opportunity will include federal awards from $2 million to $50 million to help communities lead in developing tailored clean energy projects best suited for their unique needs.
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DOE recently announced an intent to release the Wind Turbine Technology Recycling Funding Opportunity, which plans to invest $20 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This effort will help the United States develop technology solutions that will improve the sustainability of wind energy technologies, especially for tough-to-recycle materials such as fiber-reinforced composites that can be found in wind blades and nacelles; and rare earth element magnets that are found in wind turbine generators. Note: As of the beginning of Fiscal Year 2025, Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) will be issued as Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs).
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DOE’s Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) program is now accepting applications for a new round of peer-learning cohorts. Topics include expanding capacity for distributed wind in rural and agricultural communities. Participants in C2C peer-learning cohorts will receive strategic and technical assistance, access to training materials, tools, and best practices, and the opportunity to collaborate with peers across the country. Interested participants should submit their applications by Thursday, October 31, 2024.
The Lidar Buoy Program celebrates a decade of success playing a pivotal role in advancing offshore wind energy development. Managed by DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on behalf of WETO, these buoys provide critical data to support major wind energy initiatives.Since the program’s inception, the lidar buoys have been deployed in multiple coastal areas and have been a key data source for a variety of stakeholders in offshore wind. The buoys have been essential in the development of numerous projects ranging from supporting wildlife monitoring technologies to enhancing the accuracy of wind resource characterization models.
A recent win from the lidar program occurred when the buoys stationed off the California coast supplied essential information for a momentous offshore wind lease sale, which garnered over $757 million in winning bids from offshore wind development companies. The five available offshore wind lease areas have the potential to power more than 1.5 million homes with clean energy.
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Rachid Darbali-Zamora’s career has been defined by two pivotal moments: his introduction to renewable energy at a high school outreach event and his internship at DOE’s Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia). Darbali-Zamora, now an electrical engineer specializing in microgrids with renewable energy resources at Sandia, has been honored with a Luminary Award by Great Minds in STEM. The award recognizes professionals in science, technology, engineering and mathematics who led, collaborate and initiate key programs and research in their fields, making significant contributions to the Hispanic technical community as leaders and role models.
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Free Webinar: Oct.17, 2024, Virtual
The International Energy Agency Task 34, Working Together to Resolve Environmental Effects of Wind Energy (WREN), is hosting a webinar, "Using environmental DNA (eDNA) for wind energy and wildlife studies". During the webinar, researchers from France and the United States will present their research on the feasibility of using, eDNA, to detect marine wildlife.
Free Webinar: Oct. 23, 2024, Virtual
The International Energy Agency Task 34, WREN, is hosting a webinar, "Energía Eólica en América Latina: Soluciones Ambientales y Mejores Prácticas” (Wind Energy in Latin America: Environmental Solutions and Best Practices). During the webinar, researchers from Argentina, Brazil, and the United States will discuss wind energy in Latin America, environmental solutions and best practices. The webinar will be hosted in Spanish and Portuguese.
Conference: Oct. 28–30, 2024, Atlantic City, NJ
The 2024 Offshore WindPower Conference and Exhibition will bring together top developers, government officials, and key stakeholders across the industry who are working to achieve the full promise of U.S. offshore wind.
Conference: Oct. 28–Nov. 2, 2024, New Brunswick, NJ
The NAWEA/WindTech 2024 Conference, hosted by Rutgers University, is North America’s premier technical event on wind energy, fostering collaboration and innovation in wind sectors.
Free Webinar: Nov. 6, 2024, Virtual
The International Energy Agency Task 34, WREN, is hosting a webinar, “Wind Turbine Design and Bats.” Researchers from the United States will present findings on how turbine size and wakes influence bat interactions.
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