1.This Act may be cited as
the Program for Offshore Wind Energy
Research and Development Act of 2010
or the
POWERED Act of
2010
.
2.Congress finds that—
(1)as of the date of enactment of this Act,
there are no installed offshore wind power projects in the United
States;
(2)according to the
Eastern Wind Integration and Transmission Study, high penetrations of wind
generation are technically feasible with the expansion of transmission
infrastructure; and
(3)to generate 20
percent of the electricity generation of the United States from wind by 2030,
as described in the report entitled 20 Percent Wind Energy by
2030
and prepared by the Secretary, technological advances for offshore
wind power will be required to enable cost reduction and performance
improvement.
3.In this Act:
(1)The term offshore wind power means the
generation of electricity from the deployment of wind turbines in the Great
Lakes and other inland navigable waters or in coastal waters of the United
States, including the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone, and the
outer Continental Shelf.
(2)The
term Program means the Offshore Wind Power Research and
Development Program established under section 5.
(3)The
term roadmap means an integrated plan for achieving a substantial
economically self-supporting offshore wind power industry in the United States
during the near-term period of up to 2 years, the mid-term period of up to 7
years, and long-term period of up to 10 years beginning on the date of
enactment of this Act.
(4)The
term Secretary means the Secretary of Energy.
4.Roadmap to an
offshore wind power future
(a)Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of
this Act, in accordance with subsection (c), the Secretary shall initiate the
development of a comprehensive roadmap to assist and coordinate offshore wind
power implementation efforts.
(b)At
a minimum, the roadmap shall include—
(1)a compilation and
synthesis of the previous analyses that have been conducted in the United
States examining the potential for offshore wind power;
(2)(A)an assessment of the
technological advances and research needed to make offshore wind power turbines
more cost competitive (both in initial installation and in ongoing
maintenance); and
(B)recommendations on Federal support to
promote research and demonstration projects (including deepwater facilities) to
achieve the advances;
(3)(A)an assessment of the
various policy supports that would promote the United States marketplace for
offshore wind power energy, taking into consideration best practices from
international programs, including—
(i)feed-in tariff programs;
(ii)grid access policies;
(iii)support to improve the
transmission capacity of the electrical grid to absorb power from large
offshore wind energy projects;
(iv)policies for streamlining project
approval and contractual agreements; and
(v)domestic content requirements for
wind farm developers; and
(B)recommendations on Federal and State
policies that should be enacted to prudently promote offshore wind power in the
United States;
(4)(A)an assessment of the
offshore wind power permitting system (including the requirements for securing
permits for both inland and coastal waters); and
(B)recommendations on appropriate
administrative and regulatory changes to encourage and streamline offshore wind
power development in the United States while responsibly safeguarding the
public interests and environmental considerations;
(5)an assessment of
the resources that will be required to develop the infrastructure necessary to
build offshore wind power farms, including—
(A)(i)an assessment of the
suitability of the United States fleet for installation of offshore wind power
turbines and associated foundations and transmission lines; and
(ii)an examination of the costs and
technology for alternative designs of ships and barges that may need to be
constructed (including potential domestic suppliers of the ships and
barges);
(B)an assessment of
dock, crane, and laydown requirements for building offshore wind power and the
capabilities of United States ports relative to those requirements (including
associated costs of any necessary expansions); and
(C)(i)an assessment of
specific skill-sets of personnel needed to install and maintain offshore wind
power in the United States;
(ii)an estimate of the required
quantities of workers required to keep pace with the anticipated expansion of
the domestic offshore wind power market; and
(iii)a description of training and
curricula required to produce the necessary workforce;
(6)an assessment
of—
(A)the manner in
which winter ice flows affect offshore wind power turbine towers; and
(B)the necessary
technology (including costs) to mitigate any potential negative impacts;
(7)an assessment of
the various domestic manufacturing entities that can be involved in supplying
offshore wind power turbines and components, including the necessary capital
required to convert the existing operations of the entities to support the
offshore wind power industry;
(8)an assessment
of—
(A)the energy
storage requirements that may be needed to establish offshore wind
installations; and
(B)the supply chain
availability of current technologies to meet the energy storage requirements;
and
(9)an assessment
of—
(A)freshwater
offshore wind potential; and
(B)deepwater
offshore wind potential, including—
(i)designs of
floating offshore wind turbine systems;
(ii)manufacturing
and deployment logistics; and
(iii)suitable
locations for demonstration projects.
(c)Consultation
requirementsIn carrying out subsection (b), the Secretary
shall—
(1)in consultation
with the Secretary of the Interior, carry out subsection (b)(4); and
(2)in consultation
with the Secretary of Commerce, carry out subsection (b)(6).
(d)Not
later than 180 days after the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit
a report that describes the roadmap and makes any recommendations to—
(1)the Committee on
Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate;
(2)the Committee on
Environment and Public Works of the Senate;
(3)the Committee on
Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate;
(4)the Committee on
Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives;
(5)the Committee on
Natural Resources of the House of Representatives; and
(6)the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives.
5.Offshore Wind
Power Research and Development Program
(a)Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of
this Act, in accordance with subsection (e), the Secretary shall establish the
Offshore Wind Power Research and Development Program to assist and coordinate
offshore wind power analysis and offshore wind power implementation efforts
consistent with the roadmap developed under section 4.
(b)Research,
development, and demonstration centers
(1)Under the Program, in accordance with paragraph (2), the
Secretary shall award, on a competitive basis with an emphasis on technical
merit, grants to academic institutions or industry-academic consortia to
establish 2 or more national offshore wind centers.
(2)In
selecting academic institutions or industry-academic consortia, the Secretary
shall ensure that—
(A)not less than 1
national offshore wind center focuses on transitional depth and deepwater
floating offshore wind energy technologies; and
(B)not less than 1
national offshore wind center focuses on shallow water offshore wind energy
technologies.
(c)
(1)Under the Program, the Secretary shall award grants to
States, academic institutions, and industry-academic consortia to conduct
coordinated, cohesive offshore wind power analysis, research, and development
projects consistent with the roadmap developed under section 4.
(2)Use of
Department of Energy investmentsIn carrying out paragraph (1),
the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, leverage investments of
the Department of Energy relating to the activities described in that
paragraph.
(d)Scope of
activities To be proposedThe Secretary shall request proposals
for projects under this section for carrying out 1 or more of the following
activities:
(1)Development of
alternative State policies for orderly use of offshore wind power in State
power planning, including State incentives for development.
(2)Quantitative
estimation of the offshore wind power resource, including—
(A)wind directions
and strengths (including wind speed frequency distribution at technologically
significant heights, analyzed with the wind speed average and turbulence
intensity);
(B)bathymetry;
(C)waves and
currents;
(D)seasonal air and
water temperature distributions;
(E)potential ice
formation in the water and on the blades;
(F)marine and
lacustrine geology studies;
(G)the earthquake
potential of the area;
(H)potential points
for grid connection according to current and future grid power evacuation and
wind farm power; and
(I)exclusion of
competing uses.
(3)Analysis of
offshore wind power to formulate recommendations for interconnection of
offshore sites to each other and to the mainland.
(4)Development of
plans for integration of the wind resource into the electric grid,
including—
(A)grid transmission
and distribution topology;
(B)systems analysis
for reliable and efficient large-scale wind power integration;
(C)multilevel
automatic control management of the power system;
(D)voltage and
frequency regulation;
(E)a plan to
coordinate new offshore wind farms with existing classical generators;
(F)energy storage
for managing the variability in power production and load demand; and
(G)load demand and
wind speed prediction.
(5)Analysis of the
potential wildlife and ecological effects, which may include on-site field
study of possible wildlife impacts and any visual effects to adjacent
communities.
(6)Study of
infrastructure needs, academic programs at institutions of higher education,
training, employment, and other economic impacts of permitted and potential
offshore wind power projects.
(7)Development of an
advanced concept offshore wind turbine generator that would use alternative
designs not being implemented, such as new wind turbine blade, drivetrain, and
electrical generator configurations.
(8)Optimization of
the configuration of wind turbines in offshore arrays to improve overall
efficiency.
(9)Development of
advanced materials, manufacturing techniques, and deployment strategies that
could reduce installation and operation costs including advanced blade
manufacturing activity (including automation, materials, and the assembly of
large-scale components) to stimulate the development of the blade manufacturing
capacity of the United States.
(10)Design,
demonstration, and deployment of advanced foundations, anchors, moorings, and
other components that reduce costs and can sustain severe water and ice flow
conditions for application in shallow water, transitional depths, and deep
offshore water.
(11)Research focused
on improving the reliability of wind turbine subsystems and components critical
to offshore locations.
(12)Development of
floating platforms, anchors, and mooring technologies that extend the water
depth of installations that—
(A)increase
available site locations; and
(B)reduce the effect
of the view from the shore.
(13)Development of
advanced control systems for offshore wind turbines, gravity and floating
foundations, and combining hydrodynamics and aerodynamics, including mechanical
loads attenuation, high power quality, optimum reliability, and health
monitoring.
(14)Research on the
design of large blades, including efficient airfoils, de-icing systems,
structural analysis, materials, and appropriate control systems for load
attenuation.
(15)Design and
development of new deployment vessels that reduce the cost of installation and
maintenance of offshore wind turbines and submarine cables.
(16)Development of
advanced power electronics and alternating current or direct current electrical
systems to connect offshore wind farms to each other and the mainland
electrical grid.
(17)Full-scale
testing and establishment of experimental offshore wind farms and other
projects—
(A)to demonstrate
advanced offshore wind components and systems; and
(B)to validate
technology and performance issues relating to the components.
(e)Consultation
requirementsIn carrying out subsection (d), the Secretary
shall—
(1)in consultation
with the Secretary of the Interior, carry out—
(A)subsection
(d)(2)(G); and
(B)subsection
(d)(5); and
(2)in consultation
with the Secretary of Commerce, carry out subparagraphs (A) through (F), (H),
and (I) of subsection (d)(2).
(f)Proposal review
and selection criteriaThe Secretary shall review applications,
and rank and award proposals that—
(1)contain a written
plan by each participating State government, academic institution, or
academic-industry consortia describing the manner in which the information
developed will be used for, and integrated into, decisions regarding offshore
wind power;
(2)include as part
of the proposal activity, the training of professionals in analysis of offshore
wind power to enhance the national offshore wind power analysis
capability;
(3)propose to carry
out 1 or more of the activities described in subsection (d) and provide
evidence of a proven capability to carry out the activities, as demonstrated
through—
(A)prior research,
publications, patents, and advising of government and industry regarding
offshore wind power research; or
(B)in the absence of
that experience, demonstrated capability in general wind power research or
other fields that may be transferred to offshore wind power;
(4)have scientific
merit in the fields of science, engineering, or social science required to
carry out the activities described in subsection (d);
(5)supplement
efforts carried out as of the date of enactment of this Act by the Secretary of
the Interior, the Secretary of Commerce, and the heads of other applicable
Federal agencies to address data needs for the development of offshore wind
power as identified in consultation with the heads of the applicable Federal
agencies;
(6)are consistent
with a preference for proposals that are identified in the roadmap as strongly
contributing to near-term and mid-term development targets; and
(7)have a term of
not less than 1 year and not more than 4 years.
(g)A
State, academic institution, or industry-academic consortia that receives a
grant under this section shall submit a report that describes the findings of
the research and development conducted with the grant to—
(1)the
Secretary;
(2)the Secretary of
Commerce;
(3)the Secretary of
the Interior; and
(4)the Chief of
Engineers.
(h)Authorization
of appropriationsThere is authorized to be appropriated to carry
out this section $75,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 through 2015.
6.Use of renewable
energy to comply with Federal renewable electricity standardSection 610(c)(2) of the Public Utility
Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (as added by section 132 of the American Clean
Energy and Leadership Act of 2009) is amended—
(1)in subparagraph
(H), by striking and
after the semicolon at the end;
(2)in subparagraph
(I)(iv), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and
;
and
(3)by adding at the
end the following:
(J)allow triple
credits for generation of energy from offshore wind
power.
.
7.Authorization of
appropriationsThere are
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act such sums as are
necessary.