The Floating Offshore Wind Shot seeks to benefit local and underserved communities with offshore wind deployment while both prioritizing ocean co-use and protecting biodiversity.
The National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium (NOWRDC), which was established with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), has selected five new projects to receive a total of nearly $3.5 million for ocean co-use and transmission.
The selections announced today include two new ocean area co-use projects to monitor protected marine mammals and design floating arrays for fishing compatibility, and three transmission projects to reduce fatigue on subsea power cables, evaluate impacts of new offshore wind projects on grid stability, and forecast energy generation of offshore wind farms to inform grid planning.
Ocean Area Co-Use
- Saildrone: Equip an uncrewed surface vessel to observe marine mammals. This renewable-powered system could decrease costs and improve the quality of wildlife observations during offshore construction.
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory: Collaborate with commercial and recreational fishers to design floating offshore wind farms that are compatible with fishing activities.
Transmission
- University of Michigan: Improve the resiliency of subsea power cables and prevent transmission failures by absorbing cable vibrations and reducing cable fatigue.
- Clarkson University: Develop a modeling platform to assess how new offshore wind plants would impact system-wide grid stability. Understanding these impacts early in project development could avoid delays due to grid reliability risks.
- Rutgers University: Develop a tool to forecast the wind at offshore development areas and predict wind plant power output using a physics-based model and artificial intelligence capabilities. Forecasting power output is essential for integrating offshore wind power into the grid.
This award announcement marks the full distribution of NOWRDC’s initial U.S. Department of Energy and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority project award funding. Through three competitive solicitations, NOWRDC has now awarded 52 projects focused on a range of offshore wind technical challenge areas. The full list of NOWRDC’s portfolio of projects is listed on its website: www.nationaloffshorewind.org.
The National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium, established in 2018, is a not-for-profit public-private partnership focused on advancing offshore wind technology in the United States through high impact research projects and cost-effective and responsible development to maximize economic benefits. Funding for the Consortium comes from the U.S. Department of Energy and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), with each providing $20.5 million, as well as contributions from state agencies in Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Virginia, bringing total investment to approximately $48 million.
This announcement supports the Floating Offshore Wind Shot, which aims to drive U.S. leadership in floating offshore wind.