The Biden administration announced a multi-department effort to support the deployment of 15 gigawatts (GW) of power by 2035 through new floating offshore wind platforms. The focus on floating wind turbines is another step in the efforts bring wind energy off the coast of California, as a steep continental shelf and increased wind speeds make floating turbines the primary technically feasible option along the west coast.
The coordinated effort involves the federal departments of Energy, Interior, Commerce, and Transportation and follows President Joe Biden’s March 2021 announcement on a set of initiatives to increase offshore wind energy and set a national target of 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030. According to the administration, more than two-thirds of U.S. offshore wind energy potential is in deep water that requires floating platforms. This includes the west coast and the Gulf of Maine.
Floating offshore wind is also an emerging industry. The administration notes that only 0.1 GW of floating offshore wind has been deployed to date, all in Europe, compared with over 50 GW of fixed-bottom offshore wind. Eyeing competition and growing markets for floating offshore wind in Europe and Asia, The administration is launching the initiatives to “help the United States lead on offshore wind.”
The administration announced the following initiatives and goals:
Reduce Costs by 70 Percent
The administration will create a new Floating Offshore Wind Shot through the Energy Earthshot program to accelerate research and development in engineering, manufacturing, and other innovation areas. The program’s goal is to reduce the costs of floating technologies by more than 70% by 2035 to $45 per megawatt-hour.
15 GW of Floating Offshore Wind by 2035
The Biden administration will also advance lease areas in deep waters in order to deploy 15 GW of floating offshore wind capacity by 2035. The administration states that this will provide the energy to power more than 5 million homes. This efforts comes in addition to the administration’s goal of deploying 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030, as that will largely use fixed-bottom technology. As part of its 15 GW goal, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), a part of the DOE, will advance lease areas in deep waters for floating technology, starting with a lease auction off the coast of California by the end of 2022.
Research and Development Investments
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced nearly $50 million for research, development, and demonstration funding. These funds include support from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This includes a new prize competition for floating offshore wind platform technologies and initiatives to develop modeling tools for project design and to analyze port needs. Additional funding will also go to research, development, and demonstration efforts. The DOE announced the following:
$6.85 million for the Floating Offshore Wind Readiness Prize: This prize focuses on optimizing floating platform technologies and working to get them ready for wide-scale domestic manufacturing and commercialization.
$3 million for the Floating Offshore Wind Array Design Project: This project is funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to develop a set of modeling tools to help industry and researchers design commercial-scale floating offshore wind farm arrays in U.S. waters, including anchors, mooring lines, and subsea power cables.
$1 million for West Coast Ports Analysis: This project is funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to reduce key infrastructure challenges by outlining a network of west coast ports and upgrades needed to deploy commercial-scale floating offshore wind.
West Coast Transmission Analysis: This analysis will review existing transmission studies and identify research gaps related to offshore wind integration in California, Oregon, and Washington. Its aim is to help inform future analysis efforts that will aid in transmission planning and buildout.
$31 million for ATLANTIS II: The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) will announce funding through phase two of its Aerodynamic Turbines, Lighter and Afloat, with Nautical Technologies and Integrated Servo-control (ATLANTIS) program. The ATLANTIS program focuses on novel forms of systems engineering for floating offshore wind systems to drive down costs. ATLANTIS II will focus on experimental testing in ocean, lake, and tank and tunnel environments to further develop new technology for floating offshore wind turbines.
$1.6 million for Environmental Research Award: The DOE and BOEM announced a $1.6 million award to support coexistence of floating offshore wind with bats on the West Coast of the United States.
$3.5 million for Ocean Co-Use and Transmission Research Awards: The National Offshore Wind R&D Consortium, a partnership established with funding from DOE and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, announced five projects to facilitate ocean area coexistence with marine mammals and fishing and to support offshore wind transmission for both fixed-bottom and floating technologies.