DOE recently announced more than $30 million in funding for 68 projects supported by the Office of Technology Transitions Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF). With over $34 million in matching funds from the private sector, these projects will advance commercialization of promising energy technologies and strengthen partnerships between DOE’s national laboratories and private sector companies to deploy these technologies to the marketplace.  

TCF selections include $1.95 million in wind-energy-related projects for DOE national laboratories and their research partners: 

    Photo of wind turbine next to a solar panel array, with images of the wind turbine and blue sky reflecting off the solar panels.

    Research under DOE’s Technology Commercialization Fund will help support promising energy technologies, including those that support hybrid power systems. Image: Dennis Schroeder, NREL 55199

    National Renewable Energy Laboratory 

    • Field Testing and Validation of Hybrid Optimization and Performance Platform (HOPP) with GE Global Research ($500,000)—HOPP is a software tool that enables detailed design, analysis, and optimization of hybrid power plants down to the component level. It has the capability to assess and optimize projects containing combinations of wind (land-based and offshore), solar, storage, geothermal, and hydro.
       
    • Open Operational Assessment (OpenOA) with ENTR Alliance ($249,950)—OpenOA is an open-source data toolkit for analyzing the performance of operating wind power plants. The OpenOA toolkit seeks to use artificial intelligence and big data solutions to help wind plant operators characterize, predict, and optimize wind plant operations, in turn helping to maximize revenue.
       
    • Offshore Wind Turbine Digital Twin for the Prediction of Component Failures with Stiesdal Offshore Technologies A/S ($200,000)—The offshore wind industry is challenged by the high cost of operations and maintenance. Using a cloud-based model known as a digital twin can help mitigate those costs by allowing engineers to assess different turbine configurations and better predict component failures.
       

    Sandia National Laboratories 

    • Assessment Robot for Resilient Optimized Wind Energy (ARROW(e)) with SkySpecs ($1,000,000)—The ARROW(e) system brings automated, high-tech wind blade inspections to the field through innovations in robotics that facilitate low-cost, high-tech inspections that can detect deep, subsurface damage.