Power Technology

US DOE announces $48.6m funding for offshore wind R&D

Despite the renewed push, the US is set to miss its 2030 offshore wind capacity target.

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) has announced the Offshore Wind National and Regional Research and Development Funding Opportunity, which will award $48.6m for offshore wind projects.

The areas that will receive funding include research and development of floating offshore wind platforms; exploring innovations for fixed-bottom foundations; improving offshore wildlife protection through new monitoring technologies; expanding the reach of the domestic supply chain; advancing US academic leadership in floating offshore wind; and investigating solutions to protect future infrastructure from lightning.

According to a DOE press release, the funding opportunity represents one of the department's single largest investments in offshore wind, comprised of $48m in funding from WETO with $600,000 in funding support from the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

The deadlines for filing concept papers and full applications are 3 September and 7 November 2024, respectively. The expected time frame for award negotiations is August 2025.

While the outgoing Biden administration is currently pushing to expand offshore wind, the country is set to miss its capacity targets.

According to a report released by the American Clean Power Association (ACP) earlier this month, US offshore wind power capacity will reach 14GW by 2030, 16GW short of the 30GW goal set in 2021.

However, given that there is currently 56GW under development across 37 leases in the US, market analysts at ACP predicted that the 2030 shortfall will be mitigated by 30GW deployed by 2033 and 40GW made online by 2035, with a total of 7.6GW of offshore wind projects likely to be operational by the end of 2027.

The report also highlighted that states are playing an important role in the drive for offshore wind in the US, forecasting that off the north-east coast, state solicitations could award procurement contracts for an additional 8.8–12.2GW of offshore wind projects in the second half of 2024.