Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) are U.S. Government programs in which federal agencies with large research and development (R&D) budgets set aside a small fraction of their funding for competitions among small businesses only. Small businesses that win awards in these programs keep the rights to any technology developed and are encouraged to commercialize the technology.

Wind Topic:

Advancing Technology for Offshore Wind Resource Characterization

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Wind Program, part of the Wind and Water Power Technologies Office seeks applications for innovations that significantly advance the goal of large cost reductions in the deployment of U.S. wind power resources by exploring technologies that enable the production of larger wind turbine rotors through active load alleviation.

Development of a low-cost marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) measurement system which could serve as a core element of a buoy-based data collection network for the offshore renewable energy industry is needed. Projects are sought to develop a commercially viable, buoy-based remote sensing technology for MABL characterization for offshore wind applications. Key requirements are that measurements must support profiles of wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity and atmospheric stability up to heights of 200m, with data sampling and communication rates appropriate for advanced rapid refresh weather modeling. In addition, the sensor package size, weight and power consumption should be suitable for deployment on existing met-ocean buoy platforms. The proposed measurement technology should serve as a lower-cost alternative to existing measurement technologies. Applicants are required to justify the economic viability of the proposed package assuming near term (<5 years) industry deployment for project resource characterization.

SBIR and STTR Wind Power Schedule:

  • Letter of Intent Due Date: Monday, December 21, 2015
  • Application Due Date: Tuesday, February 09, 2016
  • Award Notification Date: Early May 2016*
  • Start of Grant Budget Period: Monday, June 13, 2016*

*Dates subject to change