Grant Solicitation for Wind Energy Consortia between Universities and Industry

June 4, 2009

The Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), for the "Recovery Act: Wind Energy Consortia Between Institutions of Higher Learning and Industry." The funding was announced in late April by U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. The grant provides $24 million for the development of consortia between universities and industry to focus on critical wind energy challenges.

The DOE plans to award two to three grants, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The maximum range of each award will be between $8-12 million, with a performance period of two years. Applicants must provide at least a 10% cost share of total project costs, including at least 20% for research and development.

The funding will be focused on two complementary areas, but not separate topics:

1) Partnerships for Wind Research and Turbine Reliability: Institutions in regions of the country in a Power Class 3 at 50 meters or greater wind region (i.e. North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, northern parts of Texas and California, western parts of Michigan, Iowa, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon)* with 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.

a. Proposals must address one or more challenges described in the "20% Wind Energy by 2030" report, either materials, manufacturing or labor, (Page 72) 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.

2) Wind Energy Research & Development: Any research and development agendas should include the following:

a. advance material design;
b. performance measurements;
c. analytical models; and
d. 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. Institutions are encouraged to partner with the wind industry in defining their research and development agenda, developing their curriculum, and intern partnerships.

Eligibility requirements, methods to submit, and more are available at FedConnect (search with reference number: DE-FOA 0000090)

Resources:

Funding Opportunity Announcement (search with reference number: DE-FOA 0000090)
"20% Wind Energy by 2030" , published by the U.S. Department of Energy
U.S. Department of Energy
* USA Wind Energy Resources (Page 5)