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Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program
 
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Mission, Vision, and Goals

The mission, vision, and goals of the Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program support improving the performance, lowering the cost, and accelerating the deployment of wind and water power technologies.

Mission

The program's mission is the responsible stewardship of national resources to increase the development and deployment of reliable, affordable, and environmentally sustainable wind and water power technologies to realize the benefits of domestic renewable energy production.

Vision

The program's vision is one team managing the public's investment in wind and water power technologies to maximize energy security, economic vitality, and environmental quality.

Wind Power Goals

The Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program works with industry, the national laboratories, state and local governments, and other federal agencies to advance wind technology and accelerate the deployment of wind power.

The program has defined goals for its efforts that will position wind power as an attractive advanced technology option for the twenty-first century. These goals are:

  • Distributed Wind Technology: By 2015, expand the number of distributed wind turbines (1 kilowatt to 1 megawatt) deployed in the U.S. market fivefold from a 2007 baseline of 2,400 units.
  • Large Wind Technology: By 2012, reduce the cost of electricity from large wind systems in Class 4 winds (15.7-16.8 miles per hour) to 3.6 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for land-based systems from a baseline of 5.5 cents/kWh in 2002.
  • Offshore Wind Technology: By 2014, reduce the cost of electricity from large wind systems in class 6 winds (17.9 to 19.7 miles per hour) to 7 cents/kWh for shallow water offshore systems from a baseline of 9.5 cents/kWh in 2005.
  • Renewable Systems Interconnection: By 2012, complete program activities addressing electric power market rules, interconnection impacts, operating strategies, and system planning needed for wind energy to compete without disadvantage to serve the nation's energy needs.
  • Technology Acceptance: By 2010, facilitate the installation of at least 100 megawatts (MW) of wind energy in 30 states from a baseline of 8 states in 2002; and by 2018, facilitate the installation of at least 1,000 MW in at least 15 states, from an estimated baseline of 3 states in 2008.

Wind Power Strategy

Program Strategic Planning Meeting

The Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program convened its Strategic Planning Meeting on February 5 – 6, 2008. This meeting, which is held regularly as part of the funding planning process, includes representatives from industry, research staff, and the program's peer review panel. Discussions are held on program direction and strategic planning to ensure that industry partners are able to provide timely and critical insight into market trends that the program should consider when developing the next year's research plan. The 2008 Strategic Planning Meeting focused on the initial findings of the 20% Wind Energy by 2030 report.

See the 2008 Wind Power Strategic Planning Meeting Final Report (PDF 1.3 MB). Download Adobe Reader.

Water Power Goals

The Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program supports research and development on a wide range of advanced water power technologies, with the objective of better understanding their potential for energy generation, and identifying and addressing the technical and nontechnical barriers to achieving this potential.

Advanced water power technologies include:

  • Marine and hydrokinetic technologies, which capture energy from waves, tides, ocean currents, the natural flow of water in rivers, and marine thermal gradients without building new dams or diversions;
  • Conventional hydropower, which uses dams, diversionary structures, or impoundments to generate electric power from water resources.

From 1976 to 2006, the program largely focused on supporting the development of conventional hydropower technology, with an emphasis on small hydropower demonstration, environmental mitigation studies, and advanced hydropower turbine systems. Since 2005, Congress has supported research and development for both conventional and new emerging water power technologies through the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Energy Independence and Security Act, which authorized substantial new funding to conduct research and development on marine and hydrokinetic technologies. Congressional appropriations for FY2008 allowed the program to fund $7.3 million in research projects for advanced water power technologies.

Water Power Strategy

The program is currently developing goals and targets for its water power research as part of a Multiyear Program Plan.