The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE’s) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) leads the nation's efforts to improve the performance, lower the costs, and accelerate the deployment of wind power technologies.

Learn more about the specific research areas sponsored by WETO:

Atmosphere to Electrons: Optimizing wind plant design, siting, and operation through an improved understanding of the complex physics governing wind flow into and through wind plants.

Distributed Wind: Addressing the cost, performance, and engineering challenges associated with small and medium wind turbines by focusing on design optimization, testing, certification, and manufacturing.

Environmental Impacts and Siting of Wind Projects: Reducing barriers to wind power deployment and increasing the acceptance of wind power technologies by addressing siting and environmental issues.

Grid Integration: Working with electric grid operators, utilities, regulators, and industry to incorporate increasing amounts of wind energy into the power system while maintaining economic and reliable operation of the grid.

Next-Generation Wind Technology: Increasing the performance and reliability of next-generation wind technologies with industry partners through prototype, component, and utility-scale turbine research and development.

Offshore Wind: Funding research to develop and demonstrate effective turbine technologies and overcome key barriers to deployment along U.S. coastlines.

Resource Assessment and Characterization: Supporting efforts to accurately define, measure, and forecast the United States’ land-based and offshore wind resources.

Testing and Certification: Developing and using testing facilities to support research and certification of wind turbine technologies at the component, turbine, and wind plant levels.

Wind Manufacturing and Supply Chain: Collaborating with wind technology suppliers to increase reliability while lowering production costs, and to promote an industry that can meet all domestic demands while competing in the global market.

Wind Turbine Radar Interference: Working with federal agencies and stakeholders to understand the impact of wind systems on radar, promote potential technical solutions to mitigate impacts, and promote advanced capacity of future radar systems.

Wind Turbine Sustainability: Working to extend the life cycle, reduce waste, and enhance the recycling of wind turbine materials to promote sustainability and reduce the environmental impact of wind energy systems. 

Workforce Development and Education: Addressing the wind industry’s workforce needs through targeted investments to ensure that qualified workers and skilled scientists and engineers will support continued growth in the U.S. wind industry.

To learn more about WETO's successes in working with businesses, industry partners, universities, research labs, and other stakeholders to improve the performance and accelerate the deployment of wind power, visit EERE's Wind Success Stories web page or read the accomplishments fact sheet.

To access technical resources from the wind industry on the specific technologies or wind energy research topics through publications, data, analysis, and R&D labs and facilities, visit the Wind Technology Resource Center.

Return to the Wind Office's home page, browse the office's funded activities and projects map, visit the publication library, or read about Wind Office accomplishments over the past 30 years.