II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3226 

To require the Secretary of Energy to take actions to stimulate the emergence 

of an offshore wind power industry in the United States, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 19, 2010 

Mr. BROWN of Ohio (for himself, Mr. CARPER, Ms. COLLINS, Ms. SNOWE, and 

Mr. KAUFMAN) 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 take actions to stimulate the emergence of an offshore wind power industry 

in the United States, 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 ‘‘Program for Offshore 

5 Wind Energy Research and Development Act of 2010’’ or 

6 the ‘‘POWERED Act of 2010’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) as of the date of enactment of this Act, 

2 there are no installed offshore wind power projects 

3 in the United States; 

4 (2) according to the Eastern Wind Integration 

5 and Transmission Study, high penetrations of wind 

6 generation are technically feasible with the expan7 sion of transmission infrastructure; and 

8 (3) to generate 20 percent of the electricity 

9 generation of the United States from wind by 2030, 

10 as described in the report entitled ‘‘20 Percent Wind 

11 Energy by 2030’’ and prepared by the Secretary, 

12 technological advances for offshore wind power will 

13 be required to enable cost reduction and perform14 ance improvement. 

15 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

16 In this Act: 

17 (1) OFFSHORE WIND POWER.—The term ‘‘off18 shore wind power’’ means the generation of elec19 tricity from the deployment of wind turbines in the 

20 Great Lakes and other inland navigable waters or in 

21 coastal waters of the United States, including the 

22 territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone, and the 

23 outer Continental Shelf. 


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1 (2) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Program’’ means 

2 the Offshore Wind Power Research and Develop3 ment Program established under section 5. 

4 (3) ROADMAP.—The term ‘‘roadmap’’ means an 

5 integrated plan for achieving a substantial economi6 cally self-supporting offshore wind power industry in 

7 the United States during the near-term period of up 

8 to 2 years, the mid-term period of up to 7 years, and 

9 long-term period of up to 10 years beginning on the 

10 date of enactment of this Act. 

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

12 the Secretary of Energy. 

13 SEC. 4. ROADMAP TO AN OFFSHORE WIND POWER FUTURE. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 

15 date of enactment of this Act, in accordance with sub16 section (c), the Secretary shall initiate the development of 

17 a comprehensive roadmap to assist and coordinate off18 shore wind power implementation efforts. 

19 (b) COMPONENTS.—At a minimum, the roadmap 

20 shall include— 

21 (1) a compilation and synthesis of the previous 

22 analyses that have been conducted in the United 

23 States examining the potential for offshore wind 

24 power; 


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1 (2)(A) an assessment of the technological ad2 vances and research needed to make offshore wind 

3 power turbines more cost competitive (both in initial 

4 installation and in ongoing maintenance); and 

5 (B) recommendations on Federal support to 

6 promote research and demonstration projects (in7 cluding deepwater facilities) to achieve the advances; 

8 (3)(A) an assessment of the various policy sup9 ports that would promote the United States market10 place for offshore wind power energy, taking into 

11 consideration best practices from international pro12 grams, including— 

13 (i) feed-in tariff programs; 

14 (ii) grid access policies; 

15 (iii) support to improve the transmission 

16 capacity of the electrical grid to absorb power 

17 from large offshore wind energy projects; 

18 (iv) policies for streamlining project ap19 proval and contractual agreements; and 

20 (v) domestic content requirements for wind 

21 farm developers; and 

22 (B) recommendations on Federal and State 

23 policies that should be enacted to prudently promote 

24 offshore wind power in the United States; 


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1 (4)(A) an assessment of the offshore wind 

2 power permitting system (including the requirements 

3 for securing permits for both inland and coastal wa4 ters); and 

5 (B) recommendations on appropriate adminis6 trative and regulatory changes to encourage and 

7 streamline offshore wind power development in the 

8 United States while responsibly safeguarding the 

9 public interests and environmental considerations; 

10 (5) an assessment of the resources that will be 

11 required to develop the infrastructure necessary to 

12 build offshore wind power farms, including— 

13 (A)(i) an assessment of the suitability of 

14 the United States fleet for installation of off15 shore wind power turbines and associated foun16 dations and transmission lines; and 

17 (ii) an examination of the costs and tech18 nology for alternative designs of ships and 

19 barges that may need to be constructed (includ20 ing potential domestic suppliers of the ships 

21 and barges); 

22 (B) an assessment of dock, crane, and 

23 laydown requirements for building offshore 

24 wind power and the capabilities of United 

25 States ports relative to those requirements (inVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:21 Apr 20, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3226.IS S3226

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1 cluding associated costs of any necessary expan2 sions); and 

3 (C)(i) an assessment of specific skill-sets of 

4 personnel needed to install and maintain off5 shore wind power in the United States; 

6 (ii) an estimate of the required quantities 

7 of workers required to keep pace with the an8 ticipated expansion of the domestic offshore 

9 wind power market; and 

10 (iii) a description of training and curricula 

11 required to produce the necessary workforce; 

12 (6) an assessment of— 

13 (A) the manner in which winter ice flows 

14 affect offshore wind power turbine towers; and 

15 (B) the necessary technology (including 

16 costs) to mitigate any potential negative im17 pacts; 

18 (7) an assessment of the various domestic man19 ufacturing entities that can be involved in supplying 

20 offshore wind power turbines and components, in21 cluding the necessary capital required to convert the 

22 existing operations of the entities to support the off23 shore wind power industry; 

24 (8) an assessment of— 


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1 (A) the energy storage requirements that 

2 may be needed to establish offshore wind instal3 lations; and 

4 (B) the supply chain availability of current 

5 technologies to meet the energy storage require6 ments; and 

7 (9) an assessment of— 

8 (A) freshwater offshore wind potential; and 

9 (B) deepwater offshore wind potential, in10 cluding— 

11 (i) designs of floating offshore wind 

12 turbine systems; 

13 (ii) manufacturing and deployment lo14 gistics; and 

15 (iii) suitable locations for demonstra16 tion projects. 

17 (c) CONSULTATION REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying 

18 out subsection (b), the Secretary shall— 

19 (1) in consultation with the Secretary of the In20 terior, carry out subsection (b)(4); and 

21 (2) in consultation with the Secretary of Com22 merce, carry out subsection (b)(6). 

23 (d) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the en24 actment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit a report 


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1 that describes the roadmap and makes any recommenda2 tions to— 

3 (1) the Committee on Energy and Natural Re4 sources of the Senate; 

5 (2) the Committee on Environment and Public 

6 Works of the Senate; 

7 (3) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

8 Transportation of the Senate; 

9 (4) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of 

10 the House of Representatives; 

11 (5) the Committee on Natural Resources of the 

12 House of Representatives; and 

13 (6) the Committee on Transportation and In14 frastructure of the House of Representatives. 

15 SEC. 5. OFFSHORE WIND POWER RESEARCH AND DEVELOP16 MENT PROGRAM. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 

18 date of enactment of this Act, in accordance with sub19 section (e), the Secretary shall establish the Offshore 

20 Wind Power Research and Development Program to assist 

21 and coordinate offshore wind power analysis and offshore 

22 wind power implementation efforts consistent with the 

23 roadmap developed under section 4. 

24 (b) RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND DEMONSTRA25 TION CENTERS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Under the Program, in ac2 cordance with paragraph (2), the Secretary shall 

3 award, on a competitive basis with an emphasis on 

4 technical merit, grants to academic institutions or 

5 industry-academic consortia to establish 2 or more 

6 national offshore wind centers. 

7 (2) SELECTION.—In selecting academic institu8 tions or industry-academic consortia, the Secretary 

9 shall ensure that— 

10 (A) not less than 1 national offshore wind 

11 center focuses on transitional depth and deep12 water floating offshore wind energy tech13 nologies; and 

14 (B) not less than 1 national offshore wind 

15 center focuses on shallow water offshore wind 

16 energy technologies. 

17 (c) GRANTS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Under the Program, the 

19 Secretary shall award grants to States, academic in20 stitutions, and industry-academic consortia to con21 duct coordinated, cohesive offshore wind power anal22 ysis, research, and development projects consistent 

23 with the roadmap developed under section 4. 

24 (2) USE OF DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY INVEST25 MENTS.—In carrying out paragraph (1), the SecVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:21 Apr 20, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3226.IS S3226

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1 retary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, le2 verage investments of the Department of Energy re3 lating to the activities described in that paragraph. 

4 (d) SCOPE OF ACTIVITIES TO BE PROPOSED.—The 

5 Secretary shall request proposals for projects under this 

6 section for carrying out 1 or more of the following activi7 ties: 

8 (1) Development of alternative State policies for 

9 orderly use of offshore wind power in State power 

10 planning, including State incentives for development. 

11 (2) Quantitative estimation of the offshore wind 

12 power resource, including— 

13 (A) wind directions and strengths (includ14 ing wind speed frequency distribution at techno15 logically significant heights, analyzed with the 

16 wind speed average and turbulence intensity); 

17 (B) bathymetry; 

18 (C) waves and currents; 

19 (D) seasonal air and water temperature 

20 distributions; 

21 (E) potential ice formation in the water 

22 and on the blades; 

23 (F) marine and lacustrine geology studies; 

24 (G) the earthquake potential of the area; 


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1 (H) potential points for grid connection ac2 cording to current and future grid power evacu3 ation and wind farm power; and 

4 (I) exclusion of competing uses. 

5 (3) Analysis of offshore wind power to formu6 late recommendations for interconnection of offshore 

7 sites to each other and to the mainland. 

8 (4) Development of plans for integration of the 

9 wind resource into the electric grid, including— 

10 (A) grid transmission and distribution to11 pology; 

12 (B) systems analysis for reliable and effi13 cient large-scale wind power integration; 

14 (C) multilevel automatic control manage15 ment of the power system; 

16 (D) voltage and frequency regulation; 

17 (E) a plan to coordinate new offshore wind 

18 farms with existing classical generators; 

19 (F) energy storage for managing the varia20 bility in power production and load demand; 

21 and 

22 (G) load demand and wind speed pre23 diction. 

24 (5) Analysis of the potential wildlife and eco25 logical effects, which may include on-site field study 


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1 of possible wildlife impacts and any visual effects to 

2 adjacent communities. 

3 (6) Study of infrastructure needs, academic 

4 programs at institutions of higher education, train5 ing, employment, and other economic impacts of per6 mitted and potential offshore wind power projects. 

7 (7) Development of an advanced concept off8 shore wind turbine generator that would use alter9 native designs not being implemented, such as new 

10 wind turbine blade, drivetrain, and electrical gener11 ator configurations. 

12 (8) Optimization of the configuration of wind 

13 turbines in offshore arrays to improve overall effi14 ciency. 

15 (9) Development of advanced materials, manu16 facturing techniques, and deployment strategies that 

17 could reduce installation and operation costs includ18 ing advanced blade manufacturing activity (including 

19 automation, materials, and the assembly of large20 scale components) to stimulate the development of 

21 the blade manufacturing capacity of the United 

22 States. 

23 (10) Design, demonstration, and deployment of 

24 advanced foundations, anchors, moorings, and other 

25 components that reduce costs and can sustain severe 


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1 water and ice flow conditions for application in shal2 low water, transitional depths, and deep offshore 

3 water. 

4 (11) Research focused on improving the reli5 ability of wind turbine subsystems and components 

6 critical to offshore locations. 

7 (12) Development of floating platforms, an8 chors, and mooring technologies that extend the 

9 water depth of installations that— 

10 (A) increase available site locations; and 

11 (B) reduce the effect of the view from the 

12 shore. 

13 (13) Development of advanced control systems 

14 for offshore wind turbines, gravity and floating foun15 dations, and combining hydrodynamics and aero16 dynamics, including mechanical loads attenuation, 

17 high power quality, optimum reliability, and health 

18 monitoring. 

19 (14) Research on the design of large blades, in20 cluding efficient airfoils, de-icing systems, structural 

21 analysis, materials, and appropriate control systems 

22 for load attenuation. 

23 (15) Design and development of new deploy24 ment vessels that reduce the cost of installation and 


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1 maintenance of offshore wind turbines and sub2 marine cables. 

3 (16) Development of advanced power electronics 

4 and alternating current or direct current electrical 

5 systems to connect offshore wind farms to each 

6 other and the mainland electrical grid. 

7 (17) Full-scale testing and establishment of ex8 perimental offshore wind farms and other projects— 

9 (A) to demonstrate advanced offshore wind 

10 components and systems; and 

11 (B) to validate technology and performance 

12 issues relating to the components. 

13 (e) CONSULTATION REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying 

14 out subsection (d), the Secretary shall— 

15 (1) in consultation with the Secretary of the In16 terior, carry out— 

17 (A) subsection (d)(2)(G); and 

18 (B) subsection (d)(5); and 

19 (2) in consultation with the Secretary of Com20 merce, carry out subparagraphs (A) through (F), 

21 (H), and (I) of subsection (d)(2). 

22 (f) PROPOSAL REVIEW AND SELECTION CRITERIA.— 

23 The Secretary shall review applications, and rank and 

24 award proposals that— 


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1 (1) contain a written plan by each participating 

2 State government, academic institution, or academic3 industry consortia describing the manner in which 

4 the information developed will be used for, and inte5 grated into, decisions regarding offshore wind power; 

6 (2) include as part of the proposal activity, the 

7 training of professionals in analysis of offshore wind 

8 power to enhance the national offshore wind power 

9 analysis capability; 

10 (3) propose to carry out 1 or more of the activi11 ties described in subsection (d) and provide evidence 

12 of a proven capability to carry out the activities, as 

13 demonstrated through— 

14 (A) prior research, publications, patents, 

15 and advising of government and industry re16 garding offshore wind power research; or 

17 (B) in the absence of that experience, dem18 onstrated capability in general wind power re19 search or other fields that may be transferred 

20 to offshore wind power; 

21 (4) have scientific merit in the fields of science, 

22 engineering, or social science required to carry out 

23 the activities described in subsection (d); 

24 (5) supplement efforts carried out as of the 

25 date of enactment of this Act by the Secretary of the 


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1 Interior, the Secretary of Commerce, and the heads 

2 of other applicable Federal agencies to address data 

3 needs for the development of offshore wind power as 

4 identified in consultation with the heads of the appli5 cable Federal agencies; 

6 (6) are consistent with a preference for pro7 posals that are identified in the roadmap as strongly 

8 contributing to near-term and mid-term development 

9 targets; and 

10 (7) have a term of not less than 1 year and not 

11 more than 4 years. 

12 (g) REPORTS.—A State, academic institution, or in13 dustry-academic consortia that receives a grant under this 

14 section shall submit a report that describes the findings 

15 of the research and development conducted with the grant 

16 to— 

17 (1) the Secretary; 

18 (2) the Secretary of Commerce; 

19 (3) the Secretary of the Interior; and 

20 (4) the Chief of Engineers. 

21 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

22 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

23 $75,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 through 2015. 


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1 SEC. 6. USE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY TO COMPLY WITH 

2 FEDERAL RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY STAND3 ARD. 

4 Section 610(c)(2) of the Public Utility Regulatory 

5 Policies Act of 1978 (as added by section 132 of the Amer6 ican Clean Energy and Leadership Act of 2009) is amend7 ed— 

8 (1) in subparagraph (H), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

9 after the semicolon at the end; 

10 (2) in subparagraph (I)(iv), by striking the pe11 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

12 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(J) allow triple credits for generation of 

14 energy from offshore wind power.’’. 

15 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

16 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

17 this Act such sums as are necessary. 

Æ 


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