Biden administration launches big push for offshore wind

On Monday, the Biden administration announced a major effort to revive the offshore wind industry in the United States. While offshore installations are booming in Europe, the United States is still limited to a single small offshore farm, with new projects experiencing repeated delays under the previous administration. Today, the United States is laying the groundwork for seeing 30 GW of offshore capacity installed over the decade, with widespread growth possible in decades to come.

The effort involves the coordinated activities of several agencies, including everything from fast-track authorization of planned projects to funding research aimed at reducing future costs.

And the end of the delays

While the United States is one of the world leaders in wind power, almost all of its turbines are onshore. Here, the installation logistics and the required support material are significantly simpler and less expensive. This has allowed wind power prices to eclipse almost all other power generation options. But offshore wind is much more difficult, and it is only recently that costs have fallen to the point where offshore wind is competitive with nuclear and coal.

The United States has the potential to benefit from advances in Europe (mainly in the form of increasingly massive turbines) and the fact that much of the East Coast has an extensive and shallow offshore shelf. But so far there is only one operating wind farm offshore here. Several more are in the planning stages, but they faced delays under the Trump administration before finally being approved earlier this month. Local opposition has also caused problems for some projects.

Despite the delays, many east coast states have made offshore wind a centerpiece of their renewable energy expansion plans, in part because their population density means they don’t have access to much. other good options. New Jersey, New York and Virginia all have plans for large wind farms, including some individual sites that are expected to have a capacity of around a gigawatt.

The new administration’s plan is to put the federal government on the same page as the states. Offshore wind is a complex business that touches on things regulated by the departments of commerce, energy and the interior. Monday’s announcement saw officials from all three agencies (Gina Raimondo, Jennifer Granholm and Deb Haaland) declare that they were committed to meeting the 30 GW target by 2030.

This includes the domestic planning of the lease of new offshore sites for energy development and the review of 16 existing construction and operation plans that have been submitted for approval. Collectively, if these plans pass environmental and safety reviews, they will allow the United States to reach two-thirds of the way toward the 2030 target.

Biden is selling this as much as an economic stimulus as it is an effort to fight climate change. The announcement estimates that reaching the target will require $ 12 billion in investment per year and support a large number of new jobs. These jobs will come from factories that will manufacture the turbine nacelles, blades, support towers, foundations and electrical cables, as well as the port facilities that will transfer all this material to the ships that install it. Many raw materials will eventually be purchased elsewhere in the United States, resulting in substantial estimates of new jobs.

Because of all this infrastructure, facilities could potentially grow quickly afterwards. The administration estimates that the success of this decade’s plans would put the United States on track to have more than 100 GW of offshore capacity by 2050. This is close to our current total onshore wind capacity.

Details

To begin with, the Home Office announced that it is beginning the process of designating wind power zones in New York Bight, the roughly triangular-shaped piece of shallow coastline that stretches from southern New Jersey. at the end of Long Island. The area is divided in half by the deep waters of the Hudson Canyon and is widely used by boaters, commercial and recreational fishermen, and freighters. It is also home to many species of fish and marine mammals, including whales.

Despite all of these competing uses, Interior has identified major regions that may be suitable for offshore wind development. The process begins with an environmental assessment and a call for public comment on wind plans.

Interior is also announcing that it is starting to prepare an environmental impact statement for Ocean Wind, a 1.1 GW capacity farm slated for southern New Jersey. If approved, it would be the third ongoing project to clear that hurdle, after sites off Massachusetts and Rhode Island. If approved, it will be the largest offshore wind farm in the United States when completed.

Interior expects to undertake 10 more environmental reviews for similar projects this year.

Elsewhere, the Department of Energy will set aside $ 3 billion for loans dedicated to wind industry projects. He will also join the New York State Energy Agency (NYSERDA) to fund research on offshore infrastructure and support systems to try and help keep the trend in wind costs down. offshore.

The Department of Transportation, meanwhile, will allocate more than $ 200 million in grants to encourage the construction of port facilities specifically designed to support offshore wind construction. And NOAA is working with commercial wind developers like Ørsted to develop a system where they can share data on ocean conditions and wildlife to facilitate future developments.

With many great locations and hardly anything already in place, there are many companies looking to jumpstart the US market. And of course, many states also want to see the market grow. With the federal government and the economy aligning now, it is likely that this market will grow rapidly over the next five years. However, achieving the 30 GW target will likely depend on whether Biden (or an equally pro-renewables candidate) comes out on top in 2024.