Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with NREL
On June 15, 2010, UD and DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced that the institutions will collaborate on offshore wind research and engage in personnel exchanges. The agreement, embodied in a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), came about through the efforts of CCPI, and with the support of Nancy Targett, Dean of the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment (CEOE). Under the CRADA, three graduate students from the UD School of Marine Sciences and Policy (Andrew Levitt, Blaise Sheridan and DeAnna Sewell) have undertaken internships ranging from two weeks to two months at NREL’s National Wind Technology Center based in Boulder, Colorado. According to Walt Musial, senior project lead at NREL’s National Wind Technology Center, “[b]y combining the university’s educational expertise with NREL’s wind technology expertise, we can train future wind energy professionals to provide a skilled workforce for the offshore wind industry.” Andrew Levitt is also the lead author of a paper that models the levelized cost of offshore wind energy, with Professors Kempton and Firestone serving as co-authors along with NREL scientists. The central part of the CRADA however, is the cooperation between NREL-National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) and UD related to the development of an offshore wind power testing and certification project off of the Delaware coast. UD is taking the lead on permitting and development of the test site and finding research and development partners, while NREL, building on its experience in testing land-based turbines at the NWTC, will provide personnel to test the wind turbines at the site, so that they may be certified by international certification agencies.