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www.sname.org/sname/mt October 2012 CREATING AN ENERGY INDUSTRY power plants; and the projections of long- term port and vessel requirements needed to inform infrastructure investment. All of these efforts are intended to increase the common knowledge base of all stakeholders, mitigate risks of problems and delays, and increase investor con?dence in order to lower ?nance rates. A sample project funded by DOE is the Mid-Atlantic Ecological Baseline and Modeling Study, which is being carried out in coastal waters from New Jersey to North Carolina by a consortium of private, public, and academic institutions. Data on bird, sea turtle, and marine mammal abundance and movement are being collected, analyzed, and presented in easily accessible formats that are useful in making regional and project-speci?c planning decisions. Related research projects are developing innovative instruments and methodologies for monitoring bird and bat species, quantities, and activities in the offshore environment. The need for accurate environmental data extends to the primary energy source, wind, as well as many other factors in?uencing technical design decisions such as wave loading, seabed scour, peak storms, and icing. The DOE program is funding the ?rst steps in development of an integrated National Offshore Resource & Design Data Network,? which is cataloging all available sources of usable meteorological and geophysical data, identifying signi?cant gaps, and planning portals to make the information available to many users. Research also is being carried out on related topics such as validation of remote sensing systems such as light detection and ranging, hub-height extrapolation from sea-level data, and modeling of the marine boundary layer. Potential barriers exist in connecting large amounts of offshore wind to the electrical grid. Another project, the National Offshore Wind Energy Grid Interconnection Study, will provide the technical and economic viability data necessary to produce a roadmap toward realization of the transmission infrastructure and operating methodologies required to support 54 GW of offshore wind. Analysis will include the practicality of proposed offshore transmission backbones connecting multiple wind plants with a large geographic distribution area. In addition, a number of utilities are participating in studies addressing regional grid integration factors and technical challenges such as dynamic and transient stability. As indicated earlier, a large portion of the cost of offshore wind facilities is related not to the turbine itself but to balance of plant? and the logistics and equipment needed to install and maintain the facility. DOE is funding a group of studies focused on effective infrastructure development. In Europe, hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested to re-develop existing but under-utilized ports as manufacturing, transport, and staging hubs for large offshore developments. Studies supported by DOE address these opportunities from a U.S. perspective, beginning with baseline analysis of ports, vessels, supply chain, and operations and maintenance requirements. Developing innovative technologies Nineteen projects have received awards totaling $26.5 million to develop tools and innovative technologies that lower the cost of offshore wind energy, reduce technological risk, and increase access to deepwater wind resources. Specific activities focus on developing the next generation of modeling and analysis design tools to assess offshore wind turbine technologies; carrying out innovative offshore wind plant system design studies; and supporting innovative offshore wind turbine component development.Developing and assessing innovative technology begins with the computational design tools, standards, and testing methods that lay the foundation for more costeffective and higherperforming offshore wind turbines. Funded projects in this topic area are developing fully coupled aerodynamic and hydrodynamic computer codes for ?xed-bottom, ?oating, and ice-bound offshore wind system modeling. Figure 4 shows all of the loads required to be modeled for a ?oating offshore wind system. These design tools will provide a common baseline analysis and development capability for industry. To bring down costs, the entire offshore wind plant must be studied and optimized as a system. Projects that have been funded to research this area are performing conceptual designs and assessments of fully-integrated offshore wind plant systems with a goal of achieving a 25% cost of energy reduction over current technology. Multiple teams are creating new intellectual property in offshore wind technology in developing various innovative ?xed-bottom and ?oating technologies and installation methods. Larger, more advanced turbines are a key means of lowering the cost of energy. Offshore wind turbines can be larger than land-based systems because they do not have the same transportation constraints. Larger turbines reduce costs by reducing the number of foundations and the number of installation steps required to achieve a given wind energy plant capacity. Operations and maintenance costs are also lower for plants with fewer, larger turbines. Component development projects funded by DOE are looking at innovative rotor, material, and control system research and development. These will yield advanced components, novel designs, and integrated systems that reduce capital, operations, and maintenance costs, as well as the cost of energy, by 25% to 50%. Demonstrating advanced technologies The third focus area of DOEs offshore wind strategy is to demonstrate next-generation technology. One of the primary goals of this activity is to support the installation of offshore wind turbines in U.S. waters in the most rapid and responsible manner possible. Another goal is to expedite the development and deployment of innovative offshore wind energy systems with a credible potential for lowering the cost of energy to a price at which offshore wind can compete with other regional generation sources without