The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced awards totaling 142ドル million for small businesses in 34 states. Of the 123 projects to be funded addressing multiple mission-critical areas important for the nation, the Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) selected 6 small businesses working to accelerate wind energy research and development.

Funded through the DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, WETO’s selections are for Phase II research and development. Small businesses that demonstrated technical feasibility for innovations during their Phase I grants competed for funding for prototype or processes development during Phase II. In addition, prior Phase II awardees competed for second or third Phase II awards to continue prototype and process development. The median Phase II award is 1,100,000ドル for a period of two years.

Projects selected for award include:

Faraday Technology, Inc., Englewood, OH: Electrochemical Recycling of Carbon Fiber Composite Wind Turbine Components. Economical and environmentally sustainable recycling methods are needed to handle the growing volume of wind turbine blade waste. This program will develop a recycling technology that recovers high-quality carbon fiber from blade waste and re-uses the carbon fiber to produce low-cost, high-performance composites for industries such as automotive and aerospace.

Gulf Wind Technology, Avondale, LA: Passive Loadshedding Trailing Edge. Larger wind turbine blades are subject to increasingly dynamic operating conditions, including from hurricanes. This research will investigate on-blade load management techniques to reduce turbine costs.

Kitware Inc., Clifton Park, NY: Bat Detection and Species Determination Around Wind Turbines Using Artificial Intelligence (AI). Innovative, cost-effective technologies that refine our understanding of risks and minimize wildlife impacts at land-based and offshore wind farms are critical. This AI-powered, scalable web software visualization and annotation tool aims to automate bat detection and species determination around wind turbines.

Pecos Wind Power, Somerville, MA: Foundation and Installation System to Reduce the Cost of Distributed Wind Turbines. The United States holds gigawatts of untapped clean energy potential in wind resources that are perfect for small wind turbines, however, modern-day technology cannot economically harvest the power. This technology will deliver impactful industry-wide cost reductions to support the capture of this enormous potential nationwide.

Wildlife Imaging Systems LLC. Hinesburg, VT: A Cost-Effective 3D Wildlife Tracking System. WETO, its national laboratories and other research institutions, and members of the wind energy industry are supporting work to better understand wildlife behavior and lower the risk posed to wildlife by wind turbines. This research will create a camera-based 3D tracking system to improve airspace use for different types of wildlife around wind turbines.

Willamette Technical Fabricators, Portland OR:Fabricated Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Platforms. Innovative robotic welding technology can reduce the fabrication timeline and cost for floating offshore wind turbine platforms to be manufactured in America, reducing carbon emissions, creating clean technology jobs, and improving the quality and safety of the manufactured products.

SBIR and STTR programs are U.S. Government programs that intend to help small businesses conduct research and development.