Center for Research and Education in Wind
2011 Request for Seed Grant Proposals
The purpose of the Center for Research and Education in Wind (CREW) is to advance fundamental
understanding and develop new technologies in areas that can improve the reliability and efficiency of wind
power generation under a wide range of conditions. CREW’s goal is to enhance wind energy research and
development, and to contribute to a reduction in the cost of wind energy through scientific, technological,
regulatory, and political advances in the current state of the art in wind energy systems.
CREW is soliciting proposals for highly innovative Seed Grant research projects covering all aspects of wind
power generation. The intent of this program is to provide initial support for new projects so that novel ideas
can be tested. Projects should focus on innovative “high risk – high impact” approaches rather than incremental
updates to existing technologies and ongoing projects, although risk reduction of promising techniques to
encourage immediate adoption of improved methods and technology by the wind energy industry is also
encouraged. Smaller projects focused on education and curriculum development may also be proposed.
Areas of particular interest for this funding cycle include but are not limited to:

Improved understanding of wind shear, jets and turbulence, including the implications for resource
assessment, operations and turbine design/control. Use of turbulence intensity (TI) and/or other
metrics (turbulent kinetic energy, turbulent spectra, etc.) in the aforementioned activities.

Best practices for resource assessment, uncertainty and advanced models, including assessment of
events leading to lost production (e.g. icing, blade degradation, etc.) and optimal use of remote sensors
(e.g. value and use of measurements that are taken across the entire rotor, prediction of energy flux
through the rotor and comparison with traditional approaches).

Analysis of the uses and value of nacelle-mounted LIDAR as compared with traditional turbine-level
control sensors and turbine power performance measurements, including objective understanding of the
value of LIDAR for improving yaw, pitch or potential feed forward control.

Grid integration, grid standards and costs/optimization around market rules and ramp limits –both
local and regional. This could include, for example: economic, game theory-based optimization,
artificial intelligence, etc.

Power plant-level controls and best ways to run wind plants as power plants for compliance with
integration rules. In general, emphasis on full plant-level control is of more interest than turbine-level
controls given the difficulty of transferring such technology to proprietary OEM turbines.

Supporting activities to support use of remote sensing for turbine power curve testing and reviewing
related IEC standards that may not be applicable to the U.S.

Enhanced understanding of wakes and improved models, particularly those that can be
parameterized to run on standard computing platforms rather than on large supercomputers.
Funding: Seed Grant research proposals will be funded at up to $50,000 modified* direct costs for one-year.
Subject to the availability of non-state CREW funds, projects led by NREL will be funded up to $75,000
(including overhead) to account for NREL’s increased overhead rate. It is anticipated that up to 4 proposals will
be funded in this third annual CREW shared research proposal competition.
Eligibility: All tenured, tenure-track, and research faculty at CSM, CSU, CU, and NREL are eligible as PIs. CoPIs must be part of any of the six CREW institutions (CSM, CSU, CU, NREL, NOAA and NCAR). NOAA and
NCAR researchers may only serve as co-PIs on proposals. An Instructor with at least a 50% appointment is also
welcome to submit a proposal if his/her Department chair endorses the proposal.
Submission deadline: Proposals are due by 5 pm MST on November 30, 2011. Proposals should be submitted
in PDF through the following website: http://crew.colorado.edu/SubmitProposal
*VERY IMPORTANT* Before submitting proposals to CREW, PIs should first submit their proposals to their
institution's Office of Contracts and Grants for review and proper filing at the PI’s institution. If this step is not
met, CREW will not transfer the award if successful.
Proposal Format (all items should be combined into a single PDF file):
1. Proposal cover sheet (included below).
2. Research project proposal. Maximum length: two pages (excluding references), 10 pt font minimum.
Proposals should include:
a. Sections addressing the background/rationale, aims/objectives, approach/methodology, and expected
outcomes.
b. A statement explaining why the proposed research is of a high risk-/high reward-nature, and
justifying the proposed research project’s high-impact potential.
c. A brief discussion of where the PI/Co-PIs expect to receive follow-on funding to more fully explore
the research initiated by this seed grant.
3. One-page biosketch for each project PI/Co-PI.
4. One-page budget summary.
5. If the PI is an Instructor, a letter of endorsement from the PI’s department chair must also be provided.
Review Process: Upon receipt of abstracts, CREW leadership will ensure that proposals are compliant with the
above requirements and meet their academic standards prior to forwarding to the companies that are members
of the CREW consortium. *New* A subset of the proposals will be invited to make a short presentation of their
proposal at a seminar (tentatively during the week of January 30, 2012) and answer questions from company
representatives and other interested parties. The companies that are members of the CREW consortium, in
collaboration with the CREW Executive Board, shall make a final funding decision based on review criteria that
includes: i) Innovation/Impact, ii) Responsiveness to RFP, iii) Furthering the mission of CREW, and iv) Quality
of the proposed research and research team.
Successful proposals are expected to be announced by the end of March 2012. Projects are expected to start
June 1, 2012.
Outcomes: The outcomes of the projects will be shared among all CREW member companies through
presentations at the next Annual CREW Symposium and written reports (one at the 6-month mark and another
one at the end of the project). PIs of funded projects are expected to report on any follow-on funding received
(or proposals submitted).
Point of Contact: Florence Bocquet, CREW Managing Director, bocquet at colorado dot edu
__________________________________________________________________________________
(*) Modified direct costs consist of all salaries and wages, fringe benefits, materials, supplies, services, travel, and subgrants and
subcontracts up to the first $25,000 of each subgrant or subcontract. Modified direct costs exclude equipment with a value of $5,000 or
more, capital expenditures, charges for patient care, tuition remission, rental costs of off-site facilities, scholarships, and fellowships as
well as the portion of each subgrant and subcontract in excess of $25,000.
Center for Research and Education in Wind
2011 Seed Grant Proposal
Cover Sheet
Proposal title
PI, Institution
Co-PI(s), Institution(s)
Contact Address of PI
Contact E-mail of PI
Contact Phone of PI
Point of Contact at PI’s
Office of Contracts and
Grants
Total Budget
Abstract (150 words maximum):