Distributed Wind Energy Innovation: NREL Issues Competitiveness Improvement Project Request for Proposals

The Program, Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Will Build on 10 Years of Successful Distributed Wind Energy Innovation

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP). New this year is an opportunity for manufacturers of small and medium-sized wind turbines to propose solutions focused on developing markets for new products or new markets for existing products.

Applications will be accepted through April 1, 2022.

CIP provides subcontracts to U.S. companies that help make distributed wind energy more cost competitive. Now, the project is evolving to support commercialization, accelerate deployment, and encourage market scaling to further reduce costs. Graphic by John Frenzl, NREL

Managed by NREL on behalf of DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office, the CIP awards cost-shared subcontracts and technical support to make distributed wind energy more cost competitive, improve its interoperability with other distributed energy resources, and increase the number of small and mid-scale wind turbine designs that have been tested to national standards. The 2022 RFP includes a new topic area that takes the program’s impact one step further by supporting the costs associated with the commercialization process and development of partnerships with a pathway to larger-scale deployments.

“Over the last decade, CIP has supported small businesses in multiple phases of the product-development cycle, resulting in significant cost reductions in distributed wind energy turbine technology while simultaneously improving product reliability and market readiness,” said Ian Baring-Gould, NREL distributed wind energy program lead. “As we look to greatly expand the use of clean energy, CIP is also evolving to support commercialization by addressing barriers to rapid deployment of these improved distributed wind energy technologies.”

Exemplifying the impact of CIP on the U.S. distributed wind energy industry:

The 2022 RFP focuses on projects that:

The RFP includes cost-share requirements, and proposals must provide evidence of technical readiness, incorporation in the United States, strong team skills and capabilities, and financial information. Work funded under this effort is expected to take place in the United States and/or U.S. territories unless otherwise justified.

To view the CIP RFP and find additional background information, visit the CIP project website.

Article courtesy of National Renewable Energy Laboratory.