The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE's) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) has issued the Offshore Wind National and Regional Research and Development Funding Opportunity, which will award $48.6 million for projects that address several major areas of need for offshore wind.
The areas include accelerating research and development of floating offshore wind platforms, exploring innovations for fixed-bottom foundations, and improving offshore wildlife protection through new monitoring technologies.
Also, the funding opportunity’s focus includes expanding the reach of the domestic supply chain, advancing U.S. academic leadership in floating offshore wind, and investigating solutions to protect future infrastructure from lightning.
The funding opportunity represents one of DOE’s single largest investments in offshore wind, comprised of $48 million in funding from WETO with $600,000 in funding support from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).
Together, successful projects addressing the following topic areas under this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) are expected to speed up the use of wind power off U.S. coasts and contribute to a robust clean energy economy driven by a carbon-free power sector.
The deadline for submission of concept papers has been set for September 3, with the end date for full applications set for November 7, 2024.
The notifications for selected applications is expected in March/April 2025.