The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), today issued a formal notice of intent for organizations interested in developing a Sustainability Plan for the Wind for Schools project. This formal sources sought request will help to identify organizations wanting to respond to a future request for proposal (RFP). In this case, submitting a proposal for the sources sought is a prerequisite for any applicant wishing to submit a response to a future RFP.

As the United States dramatically expands wind energy deployment, the industry is challenged with developing a skilled workforce to support it. To address this challenge, NREL and DOE developed the Wind for Schools project to expand wind energy educational opportunities for university and secondary students. Through this project, more than 135 small wind turbines were installed at host schools across the nation, providing direct examples of wind energy to many communities. Through these host school projects, thousands of students at all grade levels received wind energy education, with lesson plans based on the wind energy data being generated from each school’s turbine. Each of the 12 states working on the project created a wind application center at a host university, giving hundreds of college students the opportunity to not only study wind energy in the classroom but also to engage in hands-on project installation and management of the host K-12 school turbine projects within their state. Many of these students have found employment in the expanding wind industry. 

To help ensure the long-term viability of the Wind for Schools project, DOE and NREL are implementing a project sustainability plan. The first step of this effort is identifying an organization that will assume a leadership role in ensuring the sustainability of the Wind for Schools project, making it more independent from DOE funding while continuing the mission of promoting wind energy education and workforce development at the university and K-12 levels. More information is available at FedBizOpps; responses are due on January 26, 2016.