II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2773 

To require the Secretary of Energy to carry out a program to support 

the research, demonstration, and development of commercial applications 

for offshore wind energy, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 16, 2009 

Ms. COLLINS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Energy to carry out a program 

to support the research, demonstration, and development 

of commercial applications for offshore wind energy, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Offshore Wind Energy 

5 Research, Development, Demonstration, and Commercial 

6 Application Act of 2009’’. 

7 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 


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1 (1) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

2 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

3 meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the 

4 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

5 (2) NATIONAL OFFSHORE WIND CENTER.—The 

6 term ‘‘national offshore wind center’’ means a na7 tional offshore wind energy research, development, 

8 and demonstration center established under section 

9 4(a). 

10 (3) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means a 

11 program— 

12 (A) that includes activities to support the 

13 research, demonstration, and development of 

14 commercial applications for offshore wind en15 ergy; and 

16 (B) to be carried out by the Secretary 

17 under section 3(a). 

18 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

19 the Secretary of Energy. 

20 SEC. 3. OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY RESEARCH AND DEVEL21 OPMENT PROGRAM. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after the 

23 date of enactment of this Act, in accordance with sub24 section (b), the Secretary shall carry out the program— 


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1 (1) to improve the energy efficiency, reliability, 

2 and capacity of offshore wind turbines; and 

3 (2) to reduce the cost of manufacturing, con4 struction, deployment, generation, and maintenance 

5 of offshore wind energy systems. 

6 (b) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary shall 

7 carry out the program to support— 

8 (1) the design, demonstration, and deployment 

9 of advanced wind turbine foundations and support 

10 structures, blades, turbine systems, components, and 

11 supporting land- and water-based infrastructure for 

12 application in— 

13 (A) shallow water; 

14 (B) transitional depths; and 

15 (C) deep offshore water; 

16 (2) the full-scale testing and establishment of 

17 regional demonstrations of offshore wind compo18 nents and systems to validate technology and per19 formance issues relating to the components; 

20 (3) for inclusion in a publically accessible data21 base, assessments of the offshore wind resources of 

22 the United States, including— 

23 (A) environmental impacts and benefits; 

24 (B) siting and permitting issues; 

25 (C) exclusion zones; and 


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1 (D) transmission needs; 

2 (4) the design, demonstration, and deployment 

3 of integrated sensors, actuators, and advanced mate4 rials (including composite materials); 

5 (5) advanced blade manufacturing activity (in6 cluding automation, materials, and the assembly of 

7 large-scale components) to stimulate the develop8 ment of the blade manufacturing capacity of the 

9 United States; 

10 (6) methods to assess and mitigate the effects 

11 of wind energy systems on marine ecosystems and 

12 marine industries; and 

13 (7) other research areas, as determined to be 

14 appropriate by the Secretary. 

15 SEC. 4. NATIONAL OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY RESEARCH, 

16 DEVELOPMENT, AND DEMONSTRATION CEN17 TERS. 

18 (a) DUTY OF SECRETARY.—As soon as practicable 

19 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

20 award, on a competitive basis and with an emphasis on 

21 technical merit, grants to institutions of higher education 

22 to establish 1 or more national offshore wind centers. 

23 (b) SELECTION CRITERIA.—In selecting institutions 

24 of higher education under subsection (a), the Secretary 


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1 shall give preference to institutions of higher education 

2 that— 

3 (1) agree to cover transitional depth tech4 nologies to complement the activities of a national 

5 offshore wind center; 

6 (2) agree to host an offshore wind energy re7 search and development program funded by the De8 partment of Energy in coordination with an engi9 neering program of the institution of higher edu10 cation; 

11 (3) employ individuals who have proven exper12 tise relating to the development of novel materials 

13 for commercial applications; and 

14 (4) have access to, and use the resources of— 

15 (A) the Atlantic Ocean; 

16 (B) the Gulf of Mexico; or 

17 (C) the Pacific Ocean. 

18 (c) REQUIREMENTS.—A national offshore wind cen19 ter established with funds provided by the Secretary 

20 through a grant under subsection (a) shall be designed— 

21 (1) to focus on deepwater floating offshore wind 

22 energy technologies; and 

23 (2) to facilitate the conduct of initiatives to ad24 vance 1 or more activities described in section 3(b). 


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1 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec3 retary to carry out this Act $50,000,000 for each of fiscal 

4 years 2011 through 2021. 

Æ 


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