Offshore Wind Wire

By David McGlinchey

The White House is seeking more than $12 million in the fiscal 2011 budget for a project to drive down the cost of electricity from shallow water offshore wind.

Department of Energy officials have set a goal for the Low Wind Speed Technology program to reduce the cost of shallow water offshore wind energy by three cents per kilowatt/hour by 2020.  The program encompasses many different technology initiatives, all focused on improving the efficiencies of wind turbines.  The request represents a small step back for the effort, which received almost $16 million in funding in fiscal 2010.  Both figures are a significant increase, however, from the $4.5 million the program received in fiscal 2009.

“DOE believes that significant opportunities exist for performance and cost improvements through technological research and development,” the Department of Energy said in a statement today.  “The program will undertake a portfolio of technology research and development projects with industry, universities, the National Laboratories, and other organizations to achieve these targeted cost of energy reductions.”

The budget request was put forward in February.  The proposal must go through the congressional appropriations process for the funds to become available in October, at the earliest.

The three cent reduction is being calculated from a 2009 baseline of 16 cents per kilowatt hour.  The reduction is projected for systems operating in a Class 6 wind regime. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory defines Class 6 wind speed as being between 8 and 8.8 meters per second, at 164 feet of elevation.

The Energy Department projects that the Low Wind Speed Technology program work will be dispersed throughout the country.  Some of the work is also being funded through stimulus spending.

“The research will not be conducted at a single site,” the Energy Department statement said.  “Two program projects funded through the Recovery Act (the Large Blade Test Facility in Boston, MA, and the Large Wind Turbine Drivetrain Test Facility in Charleston, SC) will play a major role in the technology refinement process, leading to cost reductions.”