AWS Truepower was recently awarded $900,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to help establish an enhanced National Offshore Wind Energy data network.
The project will help facilitate public-private collaboration, assess quality and relevance of existing data sets, and provide guidance on all United States and international standards related to the design and safety of wind project components.
“The offshore wind industry is becoming a national priority to accelerate economic development through the siting of clean and environmentally compatible energy facilities in the windy areas off our coasts,” stated Bruce Bailey, President and CEO, AWS Truepower. “Our firm has a long history establishing guidelines for wind resource assessment and wind project design with a focus on reducing uncertainty and mitigating risk. This DOE initiative fits very well within our areas of expertise and will surely make a positive impact on the future of offshore wind for all stakeholders.” Contributing to this effort will be the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Colorado) and the Risoe National Laboratory in Denmark.
Offshore development can present complex challenges. The project will address the Department of Energy’s Wind Program goal of advancing the offshore wind resource and site condition knowledge base. AWS Truepower will build upon work completed by the DOE and interagency working groups to enhance industry protocol, establish an infrastructure for sustainable collaboration, and address offshore resource assessment and other industry needs. The primary tasks associated with the project include an assessment and catalog of national datasets and capabilities; analysis of gaps in required data and modeling capabilities; an assessment of wind system design and operation standards; recommendations for near-term measurement strategies; industry collaboration and outreach; and a long-term plan for data gathering and future research.
“This project will also assess the lessons learned from the European offshore experience which began over 20 years ago,” added Matt Filippelli, the Lead Offshore Engineer for AWS Truepower. “The ocean is an energetic yet hostile environment. A better understanding of wind and wave conditions, including their frequencies and extremes, is essential to cost-effectively designing safe and reliable offshore wind systems.”
AWS Truepower was one of forty one (41) offshore wind power and research and development projects to receive funding.
Bailey will present a short summary of this project at an R & D Session during the upcoming AWEA Offshore Conference in Baltimore next week
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Source: awstruepower, October 07, 2011