Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a $20 million investment in offshore wind energy resource characterization and technology demonstrations. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) supports offshore wind development by improving the ability to forecast energy production, and by demonstrating innovative technologies not yet deployed at commercial scale. By providing funding, technical assistance, and government coordination to develop innovative technologies, DOE can help lower the cost of energy and technology risk, enabling continued cost-effective deployment of wind power.

“This funding for offshore wind resource science will improve the weather models that wind plant developers and operators rely on to manage their fleet effectively and provide predictable, low-cost electricity,” said Assistant Secretary Daniel R Simmons. “Additionally, funding offshore wind projects can increase confidence in pre-commercial technologies and methodologies, paving the way for the development of a world-class U.S. offshore wind industry of the future.”

• Topic Area 1: The overall goal of this project is to improve wind resource characterization and modeling in offshore wind energy development areas, in order to more accurately predict the power output of future offshore wind projects and more seamlessly integrate this power into the grid. Building on previous DOE land-based wind resource characterization work in complex terrain and subsequent model development in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, this project will focus on improving wind resource model physics for foundational wind forecasts and other applications in offshore wind energy development areas.
• Topic Area 2: The overall goal of these projects is to enable the demonstration of a new technology and/or methodology that will advance the state of the art of offshore wind energy in the United States. The proposed project must either implement an innovative technology at engineering/pilot or full-scale, and/or employ a methodology that has yet to be used commercially in the United States for offshore wind, at an offshore wind project that is planned to be operational by 2025.

Concept papers are due Thursday, April 30, 2020, and full applications for this funding opportunity are due on Thursday, July 9, 2020 at 5 p.m. EDT. For more information and application requirements, please visit the EERE Exchange Website.

Learn more about DOE’s support for offshore wind energy at energy.gov/eere/wind.