U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu last week announced a list of 53 wind energy projects that will receive up to $8.5 million in DOE funding. These projects will begin to address market and deployment challenges that need to be met in order to achieve the federal department’s goal of “20% Wind Energy by 2030.”
Secretary Chu made the announcement by video at the WindPower 2009 Conference in Chicago this week: “Wind energy is one of our most promising renewable energy sources. By continuing to make investments in renewable energy we can cut our dependence on foreign oil and invest in a clean energy agenda that creates jobs and puts money back into the pockets of consumers.”
The grant winners competed for funds last year and are still eligible to compete for $93 Million more pledged in this year’s Recovery Act for wind projects.
The $93 Million will be awarded over the next two years by the Obama administration to try to hit its target of generating 10 percent of our electricity from renewable sources by 2012, including $45 million for wind turbine drivetrain R&D, $14 million for technology development and $24 million to focus on critical wind energy challenges.
Major challenges include investment in a national transmission system; larger electric load balance areas and better regional planning; reduction in wind turbine capital costs; improvement of turbine performance; siting and environmental issues; and workforce development.
Environmental impact, including research into minimizing danger to bats and birds, is one of four areas of funding announced — along with market acceptance, workforce development, and distributed wind technology.
Environmental Impact
* Bat Conservation International, Inc. (Austin, TX) – Win(d) – Win(d) Solutions for Wind Developers and Bats – $118,800
* Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (Champaign, IL) – Are Flying Wildlife Attracted to (or Do they Avoid) Wind Turbines? – $180,835
* Deepwater Wind Holdings, LLC (Hauppauge, NY) – Block Island Offshore Wind Project Bird and Bat Monitoring Program – $295,360
* Jones & Stokes Associates, Inc. (Sacramento, CA) – An Analytical Impact Assessment Framework for Wildlife to Inform the Siting and Permitting of Wind Energy Facilities -$93,340
* Kansas State University (Manhattan, KS) – Environmental Impacts of Wind Power Development on Population Biology of Greater Prairie Chickens – $299,998
* Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI) – Bat and Avian Migration Along the Lake Michigan Coastline: A Pilot Study to Inform Wind Turbine Siting – $99,951
* The Nature Conservancy (Minneapolis, MN) – Energy by Design: Science-Based Wind Energy Siting – $95,210
* Pandion Systems, Inc. (Gainesville, FL) – A Habitat-Based Wind-Wildlife Risk Tool With Application to the Upper Great Plains Region: Collisions and Habitat Displacement – $294,491
* Texas Tech University (Lubbock, TX) – Assessment of Lesser Prairie Chicken Population Distribution in Relation to Potential Wind Energy Developments – $146,334
* Versar, Inc. (Columbia, MD) – Spatially-Explicit Bat Impact Screening Tool for Turbine Siting – $142,916
* Western EcoSystems Technology, Inc. (Cheyenne, WY) – Greater Sage-Grouse Telemetry Study for the Simpson Ridge Wind Resource Area – $100,000
* Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI) – Genetic Approaches to Understanding the Population-Level Impact of Wind Energy Development on Migratory Bats – $99,933
Market Acceptance:
* American Planning Association (Chicago, IL) – Community Planning Strategies for Successful Wind Energy Implementation – $100,000
* The Cadmus Group, Inc. (Watertown, MA) – Analysis Tool for Distributed Wind Technologies (Watertown, MA) – $476,831
* Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (Sacramento, CA) – Building Transmission Capacity in the Western Interconnect to Support a Low Carbon Future – $100,000
* Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (Harrisburg, PA) – Mid-Atlantic Regional Wind Energy Institute as Part of Wind Powering America Activities – $94,000
* Clean Energy States Alliance, Inc. (Montpelier, VT) – Wind Powering America State Outreach Project – $100,000 Consensus Building Institute, Inc. (Cambridge, MA) – Building State Capacity to Advance Wind Energy Through the Best Practices of Collaborative Planning and Siting – $99,785
* eFormative Options, LLC (Vashon, WA) – Power Through Policy: ‘Best Practices’ for Cost-Effective Distributed Wind – $200,000
* Energy Northwest (Richland, WA) – 20% Wind by 2030: Overcoming the Challenges – $100,000
* Environmental Law Institute (Washington, DC) – Model State Enabling Legislation for Wind Power Siting – $50,000
* Great Lakes Commission (Ann Arbor, MI) – Great Lakes Wind Collaborative: Best Practices to Accelerate Wind Power in the Great Lakes Region and Beyond – $99,740
* Illinois State University (Normal, IL) – Topic 2A: Illinois Wind Workers Group – $99,941
* The Land Institute (Salina, KS) – The Southwest Power Pool Collaborative – $100,000
* The Mountain Institute, Inc. (Morgantown, WV) – Overcoming Barriers to Wind Development in Appalachian Coal Country – $99,776
* North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC) – Wind Powering America: The Next Steps in North Carolina – $99,347
* Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, OK) – Wind Powering Oklahoma – $87,296
* Power Advocate, Inc. (Boston, MA) – Overcoming Supply Chain Challenges to Wind Power in the U.S. – $100,000
* Princeton Energy Resources International, LLC (Rockville, MD) – Mid-Atlantic Wind – Overcoming the Barriers: Topic Area 2A: Wind Powering America – $100,000
* RENEW Wisconsin (Madison, WI) – Sowing the Seeds for a Bountiful Harvest: Shaping the Rules and Creating the Tools for Wisconsin’s Next Generation of Wind Farms – $93,348
* The South Carolina Energy Office (Columbia, SC) – Wind Powering America: A New Wind Economy for South Carolina and Georgia – $109,810
* Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (Knoxville, TN) – Tennessee Valley and Eastern Kentucky Wind Working Group – $100,000
* State Of Montana, Office of the Governor (Helena, MT) – Montana’s Response To “20% Wind by 2030: Overcoming the Challenges” – $100,000
* Sustainable Energy Advantage, LLC (Framingham, MA) – New England Wind Energy Education Project – $99,746
* University Of Delaware (Newark, DE) – Empowering Coastal States and Utilities Through Model Offshore Wind Legislation and Outreach – $99,967
* West Virginia Division of Energy (Charleston, WV) – 20% Wind by 2030: Overcoming the Challenges in West Virginia – $100,000
* Windustry (Minneapolis, MN) – Regional Community Wind Conferences – $100,000
Workforce Development
* Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ) – Power System Operation and Planning for Enhanced Wind Generation Penetration – Collaborative Work Force Development – $400,000
* The Board of Regents of the UW System (Madison, WI) – A Continuing Education Short Course and Engineering Curriculum to Accelerate Workforce Development in Wind Power Plant Design, Construction, and Operations – $119,135
* DNV Global Energy Concepts Inc. (Seattle, WA) – Knowledge Boosting Program for New Wind Industry Professionals – $269,691
* Lakeshore Technical College (Cleveland, WI) – POWER – Purposeful Partnerships Coordinating Wind Education Resources – $199,236
* Laramie County Community College (Cheyenne, WY) – Laramie County Community College: Utility-Scale Wind Energy Technology – $198,594
* Oklahoma Department of Commerce (Oklahoma City, OK) – Development of a National Safety Standard for Wind Turbine Maintenance Technicians – $400,000
* Pennsylvania State University (University Park, PA) – Wind Energy Workforce Development – Engineering, Science, and Technology – $398,456
* Southwest Applied Technology College (Cedar City, UT) – Southern Utah Wind Power Educational Consortium for Workforce Development – $50,000
* Texas State Technical College West Texas (Sweetwater, TX) – Valley Wind Program – $198,206
* University of Massachusetts (Amherst, MA) – Offshore Wind Energy Systems Engineering Course Development – $252,687
* University of Wisconsin (Madison, WI) – Integration of Wind Energy Systems into Power Engineering Education Programs at UW-Madison – $399,931
* University Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Milwaukee, WI) – Southeast Wisconsin Wind Energy Educational Collaborative – $330,184
* University of Wyoming (Laramie, WY) – Fellowships for Students Pursuing Interdisciplinary M.S. with a Focus in Wind Energy – $195,703
Distributed Wind Technology
* Cascade Engineering, Inc. (Grand Rapids, MI) – Cascade Engineering, Inc. Application – Swift Wind Turbine – $100,000
* TALCO Electronic (San Diego, CA) – Proven Energy New 6kW Wind Turbine Testing Solicitation – $34,518
* Viryd Technologies (San Diego, CA) – Testing the Viryd 8000 to Verify a Lower Cost of Energy – $65,000
Selections for two additional topic areas (supporting wind turbine research and testing; and transmission analysis, planning and assessments) will be announced at a later date.