Catch the Wind: Late April 2024
News
We’re making waves in the domestic offshore wind energy industry! 🌊
This morning in a keynote at the International Partnering Forum for Offshore Wind in New Orleans, Deputy Secretary David Turk announced new publications and funding actions demonstrating the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) continued commitment to the advancement of U.S. offshore wind energy. Check out a few highlighted announcements below.
DOE Announces $48M Planned for Offshore Wind R&DÂ
WETO intends to issue a $48 million Funding Opportunity Announcement to address several major areas of need for offshore wind, including accelerating research and development of offshore wind platforms, expanding the reach of the domestic supply chain, improving offshore wildlife protection through new monitoring technologies, and advancing U.S. academic leadership in floating offshore wind.
Together, successful projects addressing these topics will speed up the use of wind power off all U.S. coasts and contribute to a robust U.S. clean energy economy driven by a carbon-free power sector.
DOE Requests Input on Domestic Wind Turbine Blade Manufacturing Innovation
WETO is seeking information on the current state of U.S. wind turbine blade manufacturing, future domestic blade manufacturing innovation needs, manufacturing workforce development, and stakeholder strategy development. Learn more by viewing the full request for information on EERE Exchange. Submit responses by 5 p.m. ET on July 30, 2024.
DOE Releases Report Highlighting Offshore Wind Potential
DOE today released its latest Pathways to Commercial Liftoff Report, describing the U.S. offshore wind market as “at an inflection point” with a path to deploying over 100 GW by 2050. The “Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Offshore Wind Deployment” report analyzes recent market challenges and solutions already underway, finding that the sector is adapting to recent cost pressures and will see lower risk and costs as deployment increases over time.
Offshore Wind Leasing and Procurement Schedule for East Coast States Now AvailableÂ
Thanks to the coordinated efforts of state and federal partners, for the first time the federal government and states have developed an integrated Offshore Wind Energy Leasing and Procurement Schedule, which presents offshore wind leasing information and estimated procurement timelines for East Coast states all in one place. It also presents targets and awarded offtake to date for those states.
The data viewer was developed under the Memorandum of Understanding for regional supply chain development, associated with the Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership Supply Chain Working Group.
New Factsheet Outlines Resources Available for Offshore Wind Deployment
The Biden-Harris Administration released a new fact sheet that describes federal resources available to support offshore wind deployment. This includes tax programs, grants and funding opportunities, and federal financing programs from DOE, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Transportation.
Applications Open for Collegiate Wind Competition 2025
DOE invites colleges and universities to apply to participate in the 2025 Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC)! Applications are due June 13, 2024.
In addition, the CWC 2024 final event is coming up in May 2024! The event, which will be held in conjunction with the American Clean Power Association’s CLEANPOWER Conference and Exhibition in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is open to CLEANPOWER attendees and is a great place to meet the next cohort of wind energy professionals.Â
WETO Contributions
Learn How DOE and NASA Teamed Up to Catalyze Today’s Wind Industry
Preceding the modern wind energy industry in the United States, DOE and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) teamed up in the 1970s on the Mod-Series Wind Turbine Program. The goals were to develop utility-scale wind turbines capable of reliably providing electric power at commercially competitive costs and to enable their introduction into the electric power market. For over two decades, with five distinct models built, the program helped shape a cost-competitive wind energy industry through funding and R&D.Â
Clean Energy Champions
A Career Journey from Journalist to Clean Energy Champion
To achieve a clean energy future for all, we need a diverse, skilled workforce. When thinking of the clean energy industry, one might be tempted to only think of engineers and scientists—but it takes talent of all kinds to power this world-improving industry forward. Proving this fact is this edition’s Clean Energy Champion Alexsandra Lemke, a Senior Project Manager and External Affairs Advisor supporting both DOE and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Learn about her career journey and her biggest advice for those interested in working in the wind industry.
Events
2024 International Partnering Forum
Conference: April 22–25, 2024, New Orleans, LA
Hosted by Oceantic Network, formerly the Business Network for Offshore Wind, this offshore wind energy conference features panels and presentations from DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office, Grid Deployment Office, Loan Programs Office, and our national laboratories. Look out for a keynote from Deputy Energy Secretary Turk on Wednesday! And don't forget to stop by DOE’s booth #2001 to meet the team and learn more about DOE's latest research and newest offshore wind initiatives.Â
CLEANPOWER 2024 Conference and Exhibition
Conference: May 6–9, 2024, Minneapolis, MN
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. Come see us at booth 627, and check out DOE’s Collegiate Wind Competition 2024 final event taking place at the conference in Hall A.
Pacific Offshore Wind Summit 2024
Conference: May 13–15, 2024, Sacramento, CA
Join industry leaders, federal and state officials, and key stakeholders in shaping the future of offshore wind on the West Coast. Speakers will include Offshore Wind Energy Lead for DOE Jocelyn Brown-Saracino.
2024 Floating Offshore Wind Shot Summit
Conference: May 16, 2024, Sacramento, CA
Join us as the Departments of Energy, Interior, Commerce, and Transportation bring together states, tribes, and offshore wind stakeholders to discuss progress to-date in our second summit for the Floating Offshore Wind Shot—an all-of-government effort to promote a clean energy future by driving U.S. leadership in floating offshore wind design, deployment, and manufacturing.
Check out the rest of our events list that may be of interest to wind energy technology communities! 💨
In Case You Missed It
- DOE report highlights ways to address significant wind energy workforce gap.
- DOE announced $22 million to improve siting and permitting for large-scale renewable energy and energy Storage.
- DOE announced funding to address interconnection challenges for clean energy sources. 🔌
- The Transmission Interconnection Roadmap explores ways to improve interconnection processes to enable the integration of clean energy sources to the grid.
- DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory released their annual report assessing the current state of transmission interconnection of clean energy projects across the United States.Â
 Continue to follow WETO for the latest news, events, and updates.