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The White House on Monday launched initiatives to revive the development of large offshore wind farms that together would power more than 10 million homes.
Why is this important: The goal of 30 gigawatts of generation capacity by 2030 would go well beyond the large projects already on the drawing boards.
- Research firm BloombergNEF currently predicts the United States will have 19.64 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity in 2030.
- American offshore wind is a massive resource. But it remains only in its very early stages in the United States compared to Europe, with no major commercial scale projects still underway.
Some of the milestones announced on Monday:
- Plans for more Department of the Interior offshore wind lease auctions, including later this year for an area off the coasts of New York and New Jersey.
- Launching of a formal environmental study of a project Danish wind power giant Ørsted hopes to build off New Jersey, which is a step towards approving the plan.
- Use funding from the Ministry of Transport and Energy to stimulate development, for example by inviting ports to apply for $ 230 million for infrastructure projects to support the sector.
- New R&D and analytical efforts, including a data sharing agreement between Ørsted and the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The big picture: The efforts come as the Biden administration seeks to highlight the employment potential of its climate and renewable energy goals – and arguing that they extend far beyond the coasts.
- A summary of White House efforts indicates that the development of US coastal projects “will spawn new supply chains that extend to the heart of America,” like the steel produced at home.
- Overall, the summary asserts that reaching the development target would mean 44,000 workers with offshore wind jobs in 2030, and 33,000 additional jobs in areas “supported” by this activity.
Between the lines: Large energy companies like Equinor, Shell and BP, EDP of Portugal and others are already involved in various partnerships for US projects.
- Earlier in March, the Home Office completed its review of Vineyard Wind, which is proposed for construction off Massachusetts, which will likely be the first major U.S. project to be completed.
- The 800 megawatt project is a joint venture between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Renewables, a branch of Spanish energy giant Iberdrola.
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