Biden Administration Jump-starting Offshore Wind Energy Projects

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Wind turbines in field.

Only four days after the United States Department of Energy announced ambitious plans to slash the costs of solar energy 60% by 2030, the Biden administration followed with announcing actions to bolster offshore wind energy development.

The White House said on March 29 that administration officials met with state officials, industry executives, and labor leaders about new leasing, funding, and goals surrounding the administration’s plans to pursue a clean energy infrastructure.

The White House said that part of President Biden’s January 27 executive order — which called for the U.S. to build new infrastructure and a clean energy economy — specifically addressed a commitment to expanding opportunities for offshore wind energy. The administration said it will ensure that expansion with a three-pronged effort aimed to prop up supply chains and deploy offshore wind energy projects; create jobs; and assist with research and development needed to make it all happen.

The U.S. ended 2020 with only one operational offshore wind project — the Block Island Wind Farm off the coast of Rhode Island. As the nation's first such project, the 30-megawatt wind farm consists of five turbines and went online in January of this year. But many more projects are on the way, with 28,000 megawatts worth of federally backed projects issued so far. According to the American Clean Power Association's (ACPA) 2021 Status Update, project developers are expecting 14 projects to go online by 2026, adding a combined 9,112 megawatts of power to the U.S. energy grid. And that was before the Biden administration's March 29 announcement.

On the wind energy project front, the White House announced a new priority wind energy area located in the New York Bight — a region of shallow ocean water between Long Island and the coast of New Jersey. The administration cited a study that showed the project could create up to 25,000 development and construction jobs from 2022 to 2030, along with backing a potential 4,000 operations and maintenance jobs annually. 

On a broader scale, the White House said it wants to procure 30 gigawatts of energy via offshore wind energy by 2030. This initiative will catalyze more than $12 billion of capital investment per year along the U.S. coastlines. Ultimately, the administration expects this plan to produce enough energy to power more than 10 million U.S. homes per year.

As for supporting U.S. infrastructure, the Department of Transportation has opened $230 million worth of funding opportunities that port authorities and states can apply for to support projects that boost port infrastructure and shore-side wind energy. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy is facilitating the offshore wind energy industry with access to $3 billion in funding.

The White House said the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium is awarding $8 million across 15 offshore wind research and development projects that were chosen from a competitive applicant pool. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is partnering with offshore wind developer Ørsted to share physical and biological data in the developer’s leased waters that are under U.S. jurisdiction. The agreement is expected to lead to future data-sharing agreements that can expand to other developers. NOAA is also forming partnerships that will support more than $1 million in grant funding to improve understanding of the impacts of offshore renewable energy on stakeholders that include fishing and coastal communities.

The ACPA said that as of the start of 2021, U.S. states have set goals to procure nearly 30,000 megawatts of combined offshore wind by 2035. The group noted the East Coast states of Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Virginia as leading the way in driving demand for offshore wind through recent activity.

Our data shows that sourcing for wind turbines on the Thomasnet.com platform is up 728% WoW. If you offer wind turbines or related products and would like to know which companies were involved in this week's buying surge, you may request your free missed opportunity report today by clicking here.

Image Credit: Image by Alexander Droeger from Pixabay

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