National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium - CEC-NOWRDC Offshore Wind Block Grant Program
National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium
Recipient
Albany, NY
Recipient Location
$54,624
Amount Spent
Active
Project Status
Project Update
The National Offshore Wind R&D Consortium’s Innovations in Floating Offshore Wind Solicitation 4.0 was open to applications from August 14 - November 14, 2024 and had up to $10.6M of funding available for floating offshore wind R&D project proposals. This Solicitation was created with anchor funding from the California Energy Commission (CEC) and leverages funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), and NOWRDC. This unique collaboration maximizes leveraged funding opportunities for the greatest number of high-impact projects. NOWRDC intends to support projects in partnership with the best research and innovation organizations to achieve maximum impact. The Solicitation accepted proposals under the following topic areas, which were identified as being high-impact to California Energy Commission and California Ratepayer goals:
1. Innovations in Ports and Vessels to Support Floating Offshore Wind Deployment
2. Floating Offshore Wind Transmission Technology Advancement
3. Evaluating Uncrewed Underwater Vehicles for Environmental Monitoring Around Floating Offshore Wind Development Infrastructure
Proposals were scored by peer reviewers in virtual Scoring Committee review sessions convened in December 2024. The NOWRDC Leadership Team is now in the process of issuing award approvals, which will be followed by contracting and the start of Task 6, Project Management.
To summarize progress according to the CEC-NOWRDC agreement, NOWRDC has completed:
- Task 2, the CEC-NOWRDC Offshore Wind Initiative;
- Task 3, the Offshore Wind Solicitation Concept Package;
- CPR Meeting #1
- and Task 4, Solicitation Management
NOWRDC is currently working on wrapping up Task 5, Application Scoring and beginning work on Task 6, Project Management.
The Issue
California has a significant offshore wind energy resource that is anticipated to be an important component of California’s 100% clean energy future and for supporting grid reliability. Such potential is recognized at the federal and state level, e.g., Assembly Bill (AB) 525, which requires the CEC to prepare a strategic plan for offshore wind energy development in federal waters off the California coast. The CEC established planning goals of 2 gigawatts (GW) to 5 GW of offshore wind for 2030, and 25 GW for 2045. Specifically, offshore wind installations in California are anticipated to be significantly deeper than any other installations to date.
California faces unique challenges to deploy offshore wind, including a lack of technical history and technological maturity of floating systems, high technology costs, deep coastal waters, harsh ocean environments (e.g., seismic activity, wave conditions), and sensitive marine habitat. While fixed-bottom offshore wind has been installed internationally and on the U.S. East Coast, floating technologies require additional R&D for different aspects, such as mooring lines, anchors, and environmental interactions. In addition, compared to technologies for traditional oil and gas floating platforms developed decades ago, floating wind farms will require R&D for complex site-specific configurations, reduced technology costs, and minimized environmental impacts. Floating offshore wind technology designs, installation, and operation must consider these challenges to ensure long term operational performance, including efficiency and reliability. There also is a need for continuing evaluation of technically feasible capacity, considering different factors such as sea space, transmission and grid integration needs, port infrastructure, and impacts on coastal resources.
Project Innovation
The purpose of this Agreement is to fund the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium (NOWRDC) to establish and manage a collaborative CEC-NOWRDC Offshore Wind Initiative to inform the development of a solicitation that will support California’s offshore wind deployment. The Recipient will develop and manage at least one solicitation, co-funded by California, federal, and other state funds, based on the initiative. This Agreement will provide grants for offshore wind technology innovators, researchers, and project developers to advance the technology readiness, lower costs, and support future deployment of offshore wind in California. The Recipient will provide project management as a block grant administrator, providing fiduciary and technical oversight for projects.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
This Agreement will result in the ratepayer benefits of reliability, affordability, safety, and environmental sustainability by filling the gaps needed to advance and deploy offshore wind energy in California.
Reliability
Increased reliability by decreasing turbine downtime due to understanding or mitigating environmental impacts or component failure or improving and validating technological maturity and performance.
Affordability
Lowered costs, such as costs for permitting or improving the manufacturability or installation efficiency of components.
Safety
Increased safety by improving installation, operations and maintenance strategies, or remote monitoring capabilities to reduce exposure of personnel to ocean conditions.
Environmental Sustainability
Increased environmental sustainability by developing and implementing strategies that minimize impacts to ocean environments or marine life or designing components that minimize end-of-life challenges and reduce waste.
Key Project Members
Kori Groenveld
Lyndie Hice-Dunton, Ph.D.
