The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced new investments to accelerate floating offshore wind development by advancing offshore wind transmission planning, research and technology, and partnerships.
The new actions support the goals of the Administration’s Floating Offshore Wind Shot to reduce the cost of floating offshore wind energy by more than 70% by 2035 and deploy 15GW of floating offshore wind by 2035.
DOE is advancing new efforts including:
Transmission planning
With funds from the President’s Inflation Reduction Act, 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.
With funds from the President’s Inflation Reduction Act, 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.
New research partnership and initiatives
DOE announced the following research investments and collaborations:
- Expansion of National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium (NOWRDC): NOWRDC, a research consortium funded by 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 Offshore Wind Operations and Maintenance Roadmap. 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: 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.
