DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office has released a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “Advanced Wind R&D to Reduce Costs and Environmental Impacts.” This FOA will provide up to $6 million in funding to support efforts aimed at catalyzing technical and operational solutions to reduce environmental compliance costs and environmental impacts of land-based and offshore wind turbines.

The FOA will support research under three Topic Areas:

  • Topic Area 1 ($2 million): Reducing costs and environmental impacts associated with bat curtailment at wind plants through optimized curtailment strategies that align curtailment with periods of highest risk
  • Topic Area 2 ($2 million): Developing advanced components and other instrumentation for advanced bat deterrent technologies. 
  • Topic Area 3 ($2 million): Developing offshore wind instrumentation for environmental monitoring and mitigation, such as tools that monitor blade collision or that mitigate the impacts of noise from siting and construction activities. 

Concept papers will be due August 15, 2018, and are required for submission of a full application for this funding opportunity. The full announcement can be found on the EERE Exchange website.