The Energy Department intends to have offshore wind demonstrations operational by the end of 2014 and is looking for a well-established project to meet that target, according to a funding announcement released last week.

To reach the 2014 goal, the announcement indicated that “significant planning, preparation and permitting activities by the applicant are highly desirable.”

Last week, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced $180 million in offshore wind support, including $20 million to spur as many as four offshore wind demonstration projects.

According to the funding announcement, the Energy Department is planning to issue awards under two separate tracks — and only one funding recipient will be focused on speeding the development process and meeting the accelerated 2014 target.

“The award is open to all geographic regions … and all water depths,” the announcement read. “Applicants with locations that are currently planned for commercial development and that have leases and environmental reviews in place or substantially complete are highly encouraged to apply.”

The number of offshore wind projects that could meet the 2014 deadline is limited. The field of qualified applicants is apparently limited to Cape Wind in Massachusetts, Deepwater Wind’s Block Island project in Rhode Island and the Fishermen’s Energy project in New Jersey state waters.

The announcement laid out two goals, installing offshore wind turbines “in the most rapid and responsible manner possible” and lowering the cost of offshore wind electricity “below 10 cents/kWh or the local “hurdle” price at which offshore wind can compete with other regional generation sources without subsidies.”

Matching these goals, the demonstration awards will be made under two separate topics – one project accelerating the deployment of offshore wind and the rest focused on “Innovating Commercial Viability.” Projects that receive awards under the second topic will be geographically dispersed and should be commissioned before the end of 2017.

“The new offshore wind energy initiative announced today will help to catalyze the development of offshore wind in America, supporting U.S. innovators as they seek to design and demonstrate next generation wind energy technologies,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “These investments are critical to ensuring that America remains competitive in this growing global industry that can drive new manufacturing, construction, installation and operation jobs across the country.”

Dennis Duffy, vice president of Cape Wind Associates, made the request last week in a letter filed to the state Department of Public Utilities. Other organizations, including the state Department of Energy Resources and the nonprofit Conservation Law Foundation, have requested that the merger be approved only if the merged entity agrees to buy a large amount of wind generated electricity, according to the report. NStar spokeswoman Caroline Allen told the Globe that the company did not want the requirement put in place.

“We would hope that any decision on Cape Wind would not affect any decision on our merger,’’ Allen said.

GE Planning 15 MW Offshore Wind Turbine

GE Energy is planning a 15 megawatt offshore wind turbine, Recharge News reported today.

The project is being developed under a $3m cost-share arrangement with the Department of Energy, according to the report.

“To do this, you do need transformational technology — you can’t just scale up from existing industry products — and that is the power that superconducting technology offers,” said Keith Longtin, wind technology platform leader at GE Global Research.

Cape Wind Says Installation Vessels Are Biggest Obstacle

Cape Wind spokesman Mark Rodgers said that infrastructure development, including procuring installation vessels, is the biggest challenge facing the fledgling offshore wind industry, the Cape Cod Times reported today.

“The biggest single challenge for the industry is installation vessels,” Cape Wind spokesman Mark Rodgers said during a Providence-based conference.

Energy Awards $43 Million In Offshore Wind  Grants

The Department of Energy has awarded $43 million in grants to support offshore wind development, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today.

“The U.S. has an abundant offshore wind resource that remains untapped,” Secretary Chu said. “Through these awards, the Department of Energy is developing the critical technology and knowledge base necessary to responsibly develop this resource, enhance our energy security, and create new clean energy jobs.”

The grants include funding for technology development and market barrier removal.

The grants will be distributed among six projects over two years, according to the announcement.

“Developing innovative drivetrain technologies will allow U.S. manufacturers to build larger, more cost-effective, and more efficient wind turbines than any in operation today,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “The projects announced today will help the United States to lead the global wind energy industry in this critical technology area, diversify our domestic energy portfolio, and create new jobs for American workers.”

The projects include Boulder Wind Power’s research on a direct drive generator that could be used for offshore wind turbines with up to 10 megawatts in capacity and Clipper Windpower’s effort to replace the gearbox with a chain drive for large wind turbines.

Judge Confirms Maine’s Monhegan Island Test Site

A Maine Superior Court judge rejected an appeal of the deepwater floating turbine test site near Monhegan Island, Maine’s Herald Gazette reported today.

Activist Ron Huber filed suit in 2010 claiming that the site would be environmentally harmful. Superior Court Justice Jeffrey Hjelm ruled that the state was justified in selecting the site.

“There’s a tremendous amount of potential for the United States to take a leading role globally in what is a very promising technology.” said DOE’s Chris Hart during a tour of the planned Gulf of Maine test site for a floating turbine. “We’re well-positioned to be in that leading pack – if not leading the pack.”

The University of Maine plans to put a model test turbine in the water next summer.

On Tuesday, Hart was the keynote speaker at the EnergyOcean conference in Portland, according to the Maine Public Broadcasting Network. MPBN reported that enthusiasm over offshore wind development was tempered by concerns that new Gov. Paul LePage was opposed to the emerging industry.

Bluewater Noncommittal on Delmarva Escape Clause

Bluewater Wind did not offer any clear indication of their plan for a June 23rd deadline to exercise an escape clause from their power purchase agreement with Delmarva Power, the Wilmington News Journal reported yesterday.

According to the newspaper, Bluewater spokesman Dave Gaier “had no new information to offer about whether the company would exercise its escape clause in the Delmarva contract.”

A recent filing of interest for a project near New Jersey shows “that we’re committed to helping build an industry, not just a single project,” Gaier said.

According to the report, Energy officials have decided to focus on applications that are on track to be processed before the expiration of the loan-guarantee program — on Sept. 30. Cape Wind officials said that they will continue to pursue the loan guarantee.

“As a DOE loan guarantee would substantially reduce costs to Massachusetts electricity consumers, Cape Wind will continue to pursue the matter,” the company said in a statement.

Virginia Officials Pushing For Offshore Wind RFI

Virginia officials expected the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement to issue a request for interest to offshore wind developers earlier this year and are pushing to get the document out soon, North American Windpower reported yesterday.

“I was expecting [the RFI] in January,” said Maureen Matsen, deputy secretary of natural resources and senior adviser on energy to Gov. Bob McDonnell.

Matsen said that McDonnell had met with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar twice to discuss offshore wind development.

The statement came in response to the launch of VA4Wind, a consortium of environmental and green economy advocates that are pushing for Dominion to support offshore wind development. The group sent a letter to the utility saying that Virginia’s offshore wind industry “will only flourish with your company leading the way.”

“The costs must become competitive with other conventional or renewable forms of generation for the technology to be chosen,” Jim Norvelle, a Dominion spokesman, wrote in an e-mail to the Associated Press. “Dominion continues to pursue cost reduction options and would put plans in place to build when it is cost effective to do so.”

Electricity from the planned Cape Wind project will cost consumers 18.7 cents per kilowatt hour in the first year of the wind farm’s operation. The Associated Press reported that Dominion Virginia customers are currently paying about 10 cents per kilowatt hour for their electricity.

“That’s the dilemma,” said Mary Doswell, a Dominion senior vice president and a board member of the Virginia Offshore Wind Development Authority. “We need to get the costs down. Dominion is looking at how we can track that.”

The Associated Press article erroneously referred to the cost of Cape Wind’s electricity as an “estimated 23-cents per kilowatt hour.”

MA Town Will Host Offshore Wind Workshop

The town of Hull, MA, is hosting an offshore wind workshop tomorrow to update regional leaders on the state of the industry and to examine the possibility of developing a town owned project.

The event is sponsored by the Energy Department and will feature panels on permitting, construction and financing. The town currently has two land-based municipally owned turbines.

“The Town of Hull is interested in installing an offshore wind facility,” the workshop announcement read. The town “is hosting an Offshore Wind Workshop to examine and investigate several installation options, including an R&D platform, a test wind tower with interchangeable components, a 4 turbine wind facility or some combination of the three.”

Construction on prototypes of the V164 turbine is expected by the end of next year.  The company said that full scale production would begin in the first quarter of 2015 “provided a firm order backlog is in place to justify the substantial investment needed to develop the new production and assembly facilities required for a turbine of this size.”

Virginia Regulators Approve Studies For Single Chesapeake Bay Turbine

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission approved scientific studies yesterday for an offshore wind test turbine at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, the Virginian-Pilot reported today.

The unanimous vote will allow Gamesa Energy USA to determine if it is possible to build a single five megawatt turbine about 3 miles west of Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore.

“I think it’d be a really cool sight,” said John Daniel, a Richmond attorney working for Gamesa.

DOE Profiles Principle Power’s Floating Wind Platform

In a post on its blog Monday, the Department of Energy profiled Principle Power’s floating offshore wind and wave platform, which is being developed with $1.4 million in federal funding.

“The company’s device, known as the WindWaveFloat, will combine their floating offshore wind turbine platform with wave energy convertors, so the system can simultaneously generate electricity from the wind and the waves,” the post read. “Unlike offshore wind turbines that need seafloor foundations, Principle Power’s existing prototype relies on a floating triangular platform submerged below sea level and anchored to the seabed by cables. The tower that supports the turbine is built on top of one of the columns that form the corners of the triangle.”

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Energy Secretary Steven Chu made the announcements yesterday during a joint press conference in Hampton Roads, Virginia — a city that is vying to become a hub for the offshore wind industry.  The wind energy areas are in federal waters near Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey.

Deepwater Wind CEO William Moore said that his company “has long advocated for consistent federal policies on offshore wind development, so we’re particularly gratified by the steps the Obama administration is taking to establish a coordinated strategy.”

“Secretary Chu and Secretary Salazar have taken significant and important actions that we believe will hasten development of the substantial wind energy potential on the U.S. East Coast,” said Dirk Matthys, chairman and CEO of Gamesa North America. “Gamesa is strongly committed to the U.S. market and looks forward to working with regulators and our business partners to build a vibrant offshore wind energy capability.”

“The Administration’s efforts to foster offshore wind development are significant,” said Sean Garren, clean energy advocate for Environment America. “Interior Secretary Salazar and Energy Secretary Chu deserve praise for their efforts to promote better coordination between key federal agencies and for making offshore wind a top energy priority for this administration.”

Scott Rigell, the Republican congressman from Hampton Roads, applauded the administration’s announcement but said that the real test will be seeing permits issued and leases signed.

“The length of time it takes to receive a permit to construct even a single test windmill is entirely unacceptable,” Rigell said. “While the right overall message of expediting the approval process was shared today, what truly matters is action – that is, the federal government actively issuing a permit and lease.  For that reason, our office remains ready to assist the administration while holding it accountable for the promises made at today’s press conference.”

There was, however, some trepidation.  Deepwater Wind’s Moore said that it is “also critical to the nation’s clean-energy future that Congress and the White House focus this year on renewing important federal tax incentives … in an industry where projects take a number of years to develop and build, renewing tax incentives for only a year or two at a time undermines the private sector investment needed to build these projects.”

The announcement also generated some animosity from Capitol Hill.

The Hill quoted House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings saying it is “unwise for the Obama administration to exclusively focus on developing offshore wind in the Atlantic while ignoring the need for expanded oil and natural gas production.”