The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) says it is making a number of new investments to support floating offshore wind development by advancing transmission planning, research and technology, and partnerships.
The Biden administration’s Floating Offshore Wind Shot initiative has a goal of reducing the cost of floating offshore wind energy by more than 70% by 2035 and deploying 15 GW of floating offshore wind by 2035. The DOE’s new actions will help position the U.S. to lead the world on floating offshore wind technology, create thousands of jobs, lower energy costs, and strengthen U.S. energy security.
“Floating offshore wind offers untapped opportunities for us to produce clean, reliable and affordable power for millions,” says U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “President Biden wants America to become a global leader of offshore wind technology and deployment, and with his historic climate investments, DOE is capturing this potential to spur private investment, boost the domestic supply chain and deliver on our bold clean energy goals.”
Among the DOE’s new efforts:
Transmission planning
With funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, the DOE is launching a new West Coast Offshore Wind Transmission Study, a 20-month analysis examining how the country can expand transmission to harness power from floating offshore wind for West Coast communities.
The study will use its findings to develop practical plans through 2050 to address transmission constraints that currently limit offshore wind development along the nation’s West Coast. It is also expected to evaluate multiple pathways to reaching offshore wind goals while supporting grid reliability, resilience and ocean co-use.
This study marks the first announcement stemming from $100 million included within the Inflation Reduction Act for transmission planning and complements an analysis released by the DOE that evaluates existing West Coast offshore wind energy transmission research. The analysis identifies deployment gaps that the wind industry must address to successfully develop offshore wind energy off the nation’s West Coast. Â
New research partnership and initiatives
Expansion of the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium (NOWRDC): NOWRDC, a research consortium funded by the DOE and others, announced that California is becoming the seventh state, and first state located along the West Coast, to join the consortium. Pending final approval, California and the consortium will collaborate to fund R&D projects that directly respond to critical, near-term offshore wind development priorities.
Initiation of the Offshore Wind Operations and Maintenance Roadmap: The DOE and its Sandia National Laboratories and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced the development of an industry-informed roadmap for new operations and maintenance technologies and processes to enhance the cost-effectiveness, efficiency and reliability at offshore wind sites.
Lidar buoy deployment in Hawaii: The DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management have deployed a floating scientific research buoy located approximately 15 miles east of Oahu, Hawaii, to collect offshore wind resource, meteorological, and oceanographic data.
