U.S. and Denmark create $4.2 million floating offshore wind opportunity
Wind

U.S. and Denmark create $4.2 million floating offshore wind opportunity

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) and Innovation Fund Denmark will provide a $4.2 million opportunity to advance floating offshore wind.

The joint funding opportunity between the United States and Denmark aims to advance the global floating offshore wind industry by encouraging collaboration and increasing the impact of research and development in each country.

This proposed funding opportunity will focus on research to improve mooring technologies and methods, which are used to secure floating platforms to the sea floor.

WETO and Innovation Fund Denmark will each contribute approximately $2 million and performing teams must include both U.S. and Danish entities collaborating on each awarded project.

“About two-thirds of U.S. offshore wind energy potential exists over waters too deep for today’s fixed-bottom wind turbine foundations, and instead require floating platforms. This partnership between DOE and Innovation Fund Denmark will advance floating offshore wind R&D to further each nation’s respective climate goals. This effort supports the Floating Offshore Wind Shot, a target to reduce the cost of floating offshore wind in the U.S. 70% by 2035,” said DOE Under Secretary for Science & Innovation Geri Richmond.

“The climate challenge cannot be solved by one good idea or one company—or in one country. It requires many new initiatives and collaborations in different areas that point in the same direction,” said Innovation Fund Denmark chairperson Anders Eldrup.

DOE and Innovation Fund Denmark are seeking proposals addressing five topic areas:

  • Compatibility strategies for mooring, cabling, and coexistence
  • Mass-producible, high-reliability moorings
  • Novel station-keeping systems and components
  • Monitoring and inspection technologies for moorings
  • Open Topic: Research and development that more broadly support mooring systems for industry-scale deployment of floating offshore wind energy.

This opportunity is expected to be released this spring.

The announcement builds on a previous collaboration between DOE, the Denmark Ministry of Higher Education and Science, the Denmark Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities, and Innovation Fund Denmark signed in 2021.

Listen to this episode of Enlit’s Energy Transitions Podcast to learn more about the offshore wind sector in Europe.

Originally published by Power Engineering International.