The FOA aims to advance floating offshore wind energy systems toward cost-effective commercialization and industry growth. This research funding opportunity focuses on issues related to mooring technologies and methods. For the purpose of this FOA, “mooring technologies” means any equipment to permanently secure a floating full-scale 15 megawatt+ wind turbine structure in position within a deep water (50m+) offshore wind energy array including mooring lines, anchors, and all associated components.
Expected impacts from this FOA are reduced risk, lower cost, enabling a sustainable supply chain, and improvement in the coexistence of floating offshore wind energy arrays with other ocean users and the environment.
This FOA will support research projects in which the approaches and skills of natural sciences, technical sciences (including computer sciences and engineering), social sciences (e.g., economy, innovation sciences, psychology, sociology), and humanities (e.g., history, law, human geography), are integrated to address the specific objectives of each proposal.
Background and Purpose
This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is being issued by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) on behalf of the Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO). This funding opportunity is coordinated with Innovation Fund Denmark to support U.S.-Danish consortia collaborating on shared research objectives. EERE funds will be used to support the U.S. entity work through this FOA. Innovation Fund Denmark funds will be used to support Danish entity work through Innovation Fund Denmark’s corresponding funding opportunity.
The goals of this FOA are to:
• Advance floating offshore wind energy mooring technologies and methods towards cost-effective commercialization and industry growth;
• Encourage bilateral collaboration to increase the impact of research in the United States and Denmark; and
• Support research at U.S. minority-serving colleges and universities1 (MSI) and facilitate new relationships between MSIs, other researchers, and industry participants.
These goals align with the DOE’s priorities in advancing clean energy applications and energy savings, as well as the U.S. national goal to deploy 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind by 20352 while advancing environmental justice, protecting biodiversity, supporting the creation of good-paying jobs, and promoting ocean co-use.
The research and development (R&D) activities to be funded under this FOA will support the government-wide approach to addressing climate change by driving innovation that can lead to the deployment of clean energy technologies, which are critical for climate protection. Specifically, this FOA will reduce risk, lower cost, enable the domestic supply chain, and improve coexistence of floating offshore wind energy arrays with other ocean users and the environment. It will do this through R&D of innovative mooring system technologies and methods.
A Memorandum of Understanding4 (MOU) between the Department of Energy of the United States of America and The Ministry of Higher Education and Science, The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities, and Innovation Fund Denmark of the Kingdom of Denmark was established in June 2021. The cooperative activities encouraged by this FOA align with the intentions of the MOU including promoting mutually beneficial cooperation in science and technology, energy research, and innovative solutions that can be commercialized. This FOA is intended to support collaboration between U.S. and Danish efforts working in well-balanced consortia. Within each project consortium, members must apply to this EERE FOA and to Innovation Fund Denmark’s corresponding funding opportunity on e-grant to be eligible for funding. Proposed U.S. projects will be assessed by EERE and proposed Danish projects will be assessed by Innovation Fund Denmark. Funding will only be provided to consortia with projects that are positively evaluated by both funders. Once the successful proposals have been determined, EERE will fund U.S. projects, while Innovation Fund Denmark will fund Danish projects.
Through this FOA, WETO aims to advance equity and increase participation of minority-serving colleges and universities in energy research, especially new entrants or those who have not recently worked with WETO. Eligible researchers include a wide range of expertise, including not only technology experts and engineers, but also researchers with expertise in social sciences, environmental sciences, permitting processes, and other related areas. Researchers whose work has ties to their communities and will be able to leverage those ties in their projects are particularly encouraged to apply.
Technology Space and Strategic Goals
This FOA seeks applications to advance floating offshore wind energy mooring technologies and methods.
The FOA furthers WETO’s objectives while reflecting the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Energy of The United States of America and The Ministry of Higher Education and Science, The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities, and Innovation Fund Denmark of the Kingdom of Denmark.
WETO5 invests in energy science research and development activities that enable the innovations needed to advance U.S. wind systems, reduce the cost of electricity, and accelerate the deployment of wind power. Floating offshore wind energy will be a key contributor to federal and state offshore wind deployment targets. DOE’s Floating Offshore Wind Energy Shot6 seeks to reduce the cost of floating offshore wind energy by 70%, and thereby enable greater deployment to harness the immense wind energy potential at sea, promote an equitable clean energy transition, and create jobs and economic opportunities for U.S. communities.
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