US government launches its offshore wind strategy

11 February 2011


The US government wants offshore wind power capacity to reach 54 GW by 2030 and says that the first leases for the development of offshore mid-Atlantic areas could be offered by the end of this year.

The new drive to develop the country's offshore wind sector is part of a wider strategy to help meet President Barack Obama's goal of generating 80 per cent of the USA's electricity from clean energy sources by 2035. It is also designed to help make the USA a global centre of offshore wind technology.

To meet these aims, the US Department of Energy (DOE) has published a National Offshore Wind Strategy that is designed to bring together the various federal agencies that will be involved in offshore development and overcome barriers to offshore wind farms.

The DOE has also announced $50 million of funding to support technology development and the removal of market barriers.

The strategy has been widely welcomed by the renewables sector, including wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa, whose CEO Dirk Matthews called the announcement “significant and important” for the development of North America's wind energy sector.

The American Wind Energy Association's (AWEA) Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs Tom Vinson said, “The offshore wind industry needs policy certainty to justify investing the billions of dollars necessary to continue growing this industry here at home. The announcements today from the Departments of Interior and Energy demonstrate the growing commitment by key officials to tap into our nation's robust offshore winds.

“That commitment must continue to grow in all corners of government so the wind power industry itself can grow.”

The USA's first offshore wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts is currently in the process of securing finance. It took its developer, Cape Wind, nearly ten years to secure all of the project's permits.

Under the new offshore wind strategy, the US Department of the Interior has identified four Wind Energy Areas in the offshore mid-Atlantic that will receive early environmental reviews in order to help reduce the leasing time for any offshore developments. If no significant impacts are identified in the environmental assessments, leases in these mid-Atlantic areas could be offered as early as the end of 2011 or early 2012.

Further Wind Energy Areas in the North and South Atlantic continental shelves will be identified later this year.

Overall, the DOE says it is “pursuing a scenario that includes deployment of 10 GW of offshore wind generating capacity by 2020 and 54 GW by 2030”.




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