NSF Engines Development Award: Accelerating A Just Energy Transition Through Innovative Nature-Inclusive Offshore Wind Farms (CT,DE,MA,MD,NJ,RI,VA)

这一区域创新引擎发展奖的重点是促进自然型离岸风(OW)水下基础设施(例如基础和相关冲刷保护)的设计和运营所需的科学、工程、经济模型、工业能力、决策过程和法规。在接下来的十年里，预计将在从马萨诸塞州到弗吉尼亚州的我国东部海岸线外建造大约2000台OW涡轮机，耗资约1000亿美元。这给我国沿海水域的共享利用带来了巨大的挑战和机遇。由于气候变化减少了生物多样性和渔业资源，该区域的海洋生态系统已经承受着巨大的压力；因此，该区域的社区非常关注近海风能可能给海洋生态系统带来的额外压力。MOcean(使命就是海洋)是这个NSF项目的牵头单位，它的目标是：(I)使OW农场的发展惠及所有人(OW行业、渔民、沿海社区、海洋生境)；(Ii)推动大规模可持续的OW能源，这将大大有助于实现美国的气候目标和海洋健康；以及(Iii)促进建设和运营OW农场所需的投资，以解决社会不平等问题。该项目将促使行业、利益相关者、政府官员、受影响的社区以及公共和私人决策者制定有效的战略计划和创新社区，以实现MOcean的使命。MOcean的战略计划和创新社区将被开发，以支持在科学技术、工程、经济和教育模式以及相关政策驱动因素方面取得重大进步；该社区的区域将包括从马萨诸塞州到弗吉尼亚州的海岸线地区。如果该项目成功地成为国家科学基金会的引擎，那么科学上的进步将从微观到宏观，其中将包括海洋群落的形成、海洋生物学、应激源对栖息地的影响、不同材料和涂层对海洋生长、当地生态系统以及区域生态系统的影响。技术的进步将包括新的传感系统(例如EDNA、声学、基于图像的系统)、机器人技术、涂层系统、更耐用的材料、包括自然的智能冲刷保护、人工珊瑚礁和面向未来的地基。工程模型的进步将解释目前在实践中被忽视或没有充分考虑的重要因素(例如，土-基础结构相互作用，阴极保护对设计寿命和环境的影响)。对于经济学来说，这些进步将量化当地劳动力、环境影响和新的蓝色技术在经济模型中的影响，这些经济模型可以用于海上风电场设计和运营的决策过程。在教育方面，进步将创造新的参与、支持和学习方法，使来自边缘社区的学生和工人更多地参与MOcean服务区域内的新蓝色经济。MOcean团队的组成旨在不同领域之间的交叉点取得智力进步，并创建系统模型。该发展奖将使团队能够参与地区性的、协作的规划过程，为实现这些目标准备未来的引擎。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Regional Innovation Engines Development Award is focused on advancing the science, engineering, economic models, industrial capacity, decision-making process, and regulations needed for the design and operation of nature-inclusive Offshore Wind (OW) underwater infrastructure (e.g. foundations and associated scour protection). Over the next ten years, about 2000 OW turbines are expected to be constructed off our nation’s eastern coastline from Massachusetts to Virginia at a cost of about $100 Billion. This brings great challenges and opportunities for the shared-use of our coastal waters. The marine ecosystem in this region is already under great stress due to climate change which has reduced biodiversity and fishing stocks; thereby, communities in this region are very concerned about additional stresses on the marine ecosystem that offshore wind may bring. MOCEAN (Mission is the OCEAN) is the lead for this NSF project, and it aims to: (i) make OW farm development a win for all (OW industry, fishers, coastal communities, ocean habitats); (ii) drive large-scale sustainable OW energy that will contribute greatly to achieving U.S. climate goals and ocean health; and (iii) catalyze the investment required to build and operate OW farms to address societal inequities. This project will engage industry, stakeholders, public officials, affected communities, and public and private decision makers to develop an effective strategic plan and innovation community to achieve MOCEAN’s mission. MOCEAN’s strategic plan and innovation community will be developed to support making significant advancements in science and technology; engineering, economic, and educational models; and associated policy drivers; the region of this community will include coastline areas from Massachusetts to Virginia. If the project succeeds in becoming an NSF Engine, then the advancements in science will range from the micro-to-macro scale, and these will include the formation of marine communities, marine biology, impact of stressors on habitats, the effect of different materials and coatings on marine growths, local ecosystems, as well as regional ecosystems. The advancements in technologies will include new sensing systems (e.g. eDNA, acoustic, image-based), robotics, coating systems, more durable materials, intelligent nature-inclusive scour protection, artificial reefs, and future-proof foundations. The advancements in engineering models will account for important factors that are presently ignored or insufficiently considered in practice (e.g. soil-foundation structure interaction, impact of cathodic protection on design life and the environment). For economics, the advancements will quantify the effect of local labor, environmental impact, and new blue technology within economic models that can be used in the decision-making process for the design and operation of offshore wind farms. In education, advancements will create new methods of engagement, support, and learning that lead to much greater participation of students and workers from marginalized communities in the New Blue Economy within MOCEAN’s region of service. The composition of the MOCEAN team was designed to make intellectual progress at the intersections between different fields, and to create system-of-system models. This Development Award will enable the team to engage in a regional, collaborative planning process to prepare a future Engine to meet these goals.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.