The US Department of Energy (DOE) is investing USD 4.75 million to establish a new national center of excellence to accelerate offshore wind energy deployment nationwide.
The Academic Center for Reliability and Resilience of Offshore Wind (ARROW), led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst with approximately 40 partners, will focus on workforce development, targeted research, and partnerships and strategies to embed equity in offshore wind development.
As offshore wind development grows, there will be an increasing demand for workers across various disciplines, DOE said.
The selected ARROW consortium will provide interdisciplinary educational opportunities to help advance the next generation of offshore wind workers.
There are three programmes that ARROW will support. ARROW-Empower will focus on an enduring and comprehensive educational scale-up for offshore wind, advancing the education of 1,000 students over the initial five-year life of the center.
ARROW-Innovate will conduct research on infrastructure, atmospheric and ocean conditions, and marine and human ecology to advance the resilience of offshore wind, said DOE.
Arrow-Engage will connect with communities across the country and help ensure benefits from offshore wind are spread equitably, while also helping to grow a diverse domestic workforce, according to DOE.
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The consortium includes Clemson University, Morgan State University, Johns Hopkins University, Northeastern University, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, University of Massachusetts Lowell, University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, Argonne National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, and the Maryland Energy Administration.
The academic and training hub will help drive progress toward the Biden-Harris Administration’s goals of deploying 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030 , 100 per cent clean electricity grid by 2035, and net-zero emissions economy-wide by 2050, DOE said.