The Department of Energy (DOE) [5] recently issued a new funding opportunity for academic institutions conducting research on wind energy entitled the Wind Energy Consortia between Institutions of Higher Learning and Industry [6] providing $24 million in funding.
Growth in wind energy continues to be followed by a rise in research opportunities. The DOE expects to award two grants to separate institutions ranging from $8-12 million. According to the DOE's description of the grant [6], funding via the Recovery Act [7] will be used to focus on two main research topics:
Partnerships for Wind Research and Turbine Reliability: Universities in regions of the country with wind energy facilities and consistent wind resources throughout the year are encouraged to team with industry partners to establish facilities/equipment and a research agenda necessary to study major challenges facing today's wind industry. Proposals must address one or more challenges described in the 20% Wind Energy by 2030 report [8] and shall include descriptions of how the wind hardware and software will be acquired. DOE highly encourages research in turbine reliability as a topic in any consortia proposal.
Wind Energy Research Development: University Research and Development to advance material design, performance measurements, analytical models, and leveraging partnerships with industry to improve power systems operations, maintenance or repair operations, wind turbine and/or component manufacturing, and interdisciplinary system integration. Fellowships, internships, etc. may be used to support the research agenda. Universities are encouraged to partner with the wind industry in defining their R&D agenda, developing their curriculum, and intern partnerships.
Created on June 11, 2009, the federal grant [6] will be closed to applicants on July 29, 2009.
This adds to the growing list of new federal funding opportunities for new research on renewable energy. Authorized through the Recovery Act [7], the DOE's list of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Announcements [9]
has seen a large increase since President Obama has taken office.
Jeff Swofford is a researcher for an energy efficiency organization in Portland, Oregon. He is currently on haitus from his EnergyBoom contributions, but you may see him floating around. His research interests include renewable energy implementation, energy efficiency, energy policy, and carbon mitigation.
Links:
[1] http://energyboom.com/
[2] http://www.energyboom.com/wind
[3] http://energyboom.com/users/jeff-swofford
[4] http://energyboom.com/sites/default/files/wind power sunset_1.JPG
[5] http://www.energy.gov/
[6] http://www07.grants.gov/search/synopsis.do;jsessionid=LwcjK5KfgjyGYQmpx1xhTnqF37qmVyTy3scXDMTcZyg5r0v2Q1N7!1602516421
[7] http://www.recovery.gov/
[8] http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/pdfs/41869.pdf
[9] http://www.energy.gov/recovery/funding.htm
[10] http://energyboom.com/category/country/united-states
[11] http://energyboom.com/category/currency/usd
[12] http://energyboom.com/category/tags/academics
[13] http://energyboom.com/category/tags/department-energy-doe
[14] http://energyboom.com/category/tags/government-funding
[15] http://energyboom.com/category/tags/research
[16] http://energyboom.com/category/tags/wind-energy
[17] http://energyboom.com/category/tags/wind-power
[18] http://energyboom.com/category/organization/department-energy
[19] http://energyboom.com/category/industry-term/energy
