［USA］DOE Awards $28 Million for Wind Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration Projects

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced on October 22, 2019 that it selected 13 wind energy projects with a total of $28 million in funding. This follows an announcement by the DOE in March calling for concept papers and full applications for the funding. The 13 selected projects cover the full spectrum of technology development, from testing to integration, and include all three sectors of the wind energy industry: distributed, offshore, and land-based utility-scale wind. As of October 2019, utility scale, land-based wind energy had grown to 96 gigawatts in the United States. Despite this growth, the DOE still sees significant opportunities for improvements in cost through projects that focus on upgrades in current infrastructure, developing innovative technologies, and supporting rural electric utilities. Daniel R Simmons, DOE’s Assistant Secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, commented, “These projects will be instrumental in driving down technology costs and increasing consumer options for wind across the United States as part of our comprehensive energy portfolio.”