August 4, 2020 MEDIA RELEASE
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The National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium (“the Consortium”) today announced the availability of $9 million through its Innovation in Offshore Wind Solicitation 1.0 for offshore wind technology research and development projects. Today’s announcement advances the Consortium’s long-term strategy for identifying innovative technology to further drive down costs of offshore wind development in the United States.

“On behalf of the Consortium, I am pleased to release this opportunity for offshore wind research,” said Carrie Cullen Hitt, Executive Director of the Consortium. “The Challenge Areas reflect critical topics identified by industry to move development forward by lowering costs and furthering the U.S. supply chain.”

The solicitation, open to companies and academic and research institutions, seeks new solutions that remove barriers and address issues essential for cost reduction, deployment, and industry growth in the U.S. Proposals should demonstrate technology with high potential for replicability, providing a feasible path to commercialization that delivers benefits to multiple categories of end-users.

The Solicitation has three rounds, each containing multiple Challenge Areas:

• Round 1: Enabling Large Scale Turbines
• Round 2: Support Structure Innovation and Supply Chain
• Round 3: Electrical Systems and Innovation; Mitigation of Use Conflicts

Interested proposers can find more details about the solicitation, including challenge areas within these rounds, here: https://nationaloffshorewind.org/solicitations/.

“This industry-led R&D initiative has already demonstrated its preeminent role in offshore wind innovations. Building on the success of the prior solicitation of the National Offshore Wind R&D Consortium, we look forward to awarding additional high-caliber projects through this second solicitation,” said Jan Matthiesen, Vice Chairman of the Consortium’s Board of Directors and Chairman of the Research and Development Committee.

Over the past twelve months, twenty projects received awards from the Consortium, representing over $17.3 million in funding. A full listing of the projects, can be found on the Consortium’s website.

The Consortium, a not-for-profit organization, supports cost-effective and responsible development of offshore wind to maximize economic benefits to the United States. The Consortium was established in 2018 when the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) was awarded $18.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy. In addition to New York’s ongoing support, the Commonwealths of Virginia and Massachusetts and the State of Maryland now also contribute to the Consortium’s funding.
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Contact:  Carrie Cullen Hitt – info@nationaloffshorewind.org