Federal panel hones in on materials, manufacturing as top research needs for floating offshore wind

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Achieving the Biden Administration’s goal of cutting floating offshore wind development costs by 70% will require advanced manufacturing and materials science, agency leaders said during a Wednesday afternoon roundtable at the Department of Energy’s Floating Offshore Wind Summit.

Marine environments create harsh conditions that call for more durable materials such as advanced composites, said Susan Margulies, who heads the Directorate for Engineering at the National Science Foundation. The NSF recently launched a call for proposals for research initiatives that could lead to the discovery of new materials.

Manufacturing these materials, as well as other needed components, will present another key challenge, Margulies said. “Rather than constrain innovation to the manufacturing we have today, we should explore the frontiers of manufacturing itself.”