The US Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office (GDO) has opened an initial funding opportunity of up to $1.25 million to advance offshore wind deployment along the Atlantic Coast by identifying opportunities and strategies to standardise transmission development.
Managed in collaboration with ConnectWerx, the “Standardisation for Interregional Offshore Wind Transmission” funding opportunity seeks to identify technical experts, including specialised independent consultants or academic entities, to lead a consortium that identifies standardised offshore wind transmission equipment specifications to support coordinated procurement in the United States.
Through this funding opportunity, GDO will fund one principal investigator over an initial one-year performance period to assemble and lead a consortium of specialised technical experts, which could consist of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), offshore wind developers, regional transmission organisations (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs), transmission owners, utilities, and entities with experience in offshore wind standards and procurements. The primary role of this research consortium is to provide guidance and develop best practices for the Northeast States Collaborative on Interregional Transmission to promote efficient interconnection of projects that may be constructed by different vendors using equipment from various manufacturers across numerous time zones.
The consortium will develop ideas with the goal of informing near-term and future offshore wind solicitation processes. While focused on the Atlantic region, it is expected that this work will benefit the US offshore wind industry as a whole and may inform future state action across coastal regions.
This programme is managed by ConnectWerx in partnership with DOE. ConnectWerx is a DOE platform designed to accelerate partnership formation to expand the development and deployment of critical energy solutions, heighten energy security, and strengthen national security ecosystems.
