By North American Windpower

U.S. Sens. Tina Smith, D-Minn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, have introduced bipartisan legislation that would renew and expand the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Wind Energy and award funding for wind power research and development.

The Wind Energy Research and Development Act of 2019 authorizes and expands the DOE’s Office of Wind Energy for five years and directs the secretary of energy to award competitive grants in support of the following:

• Improving the energy efficiency, reliability and capacity of wind energy generation;
• Improving land-based and offshore blade, generator, tower and support designs and transformational technologies for harnessing wind energy, including airborne wind energy generators;
• Increasing the recycling and reuse of wind energy components;
• Reducing the cost of permitting, construction, and operations and maintenance of wind energy systems;
• Conducting a wind energy technology validation and market transformation program;
• Reducing barriers to widespread adoption of wind power; and
• Developing new wildlife impact mitigation technologies.

“Minnesota has long been a national leader in wind energy. The state is home to the two largest wind farm construction companies in the country – Mortenson Energy in the Twin Cities...,” comments Smith.

Read the full new article here from North American Windpower.