US Energy Department Releases Strategy for Offshore Wind

COURT HOUSE – As many in Cape May County express concern over the speed with which the offshore wind initiative is moving, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) March 29 released its strategic report meant to support an expansion and acceleration of offshore wind efforts.
The DOE report set forth the government’s strategy for achieving the Biden administration’s goal of 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030 and establishing a pathway to 110 GW by 2050. Among the initiatives in the report are Near-Term Offshore Wind (NOW) and Floating Offshore Wind Accelerated Research and Development (FORWARD).
There is little room in this strategic overview for any pause in the initiative, as many in the county are currently advocating with respect to the Ocean Wind I project.
The DOE vision, as laid out in the report, includes cost competitive energy generation, major benefits for jobs and a leadership role for the country with respect to next generation floating offshore wind. It also states that the “lease areas available for offshore wind energy development will need to grow considerably.”
Four major strategies are outlined. The offshore wind initiative must be aimed at reducing wind energy costs, supporting “optimized siting and permitting,” investing in supply chain development, and addressing grid integration challenges.
A substructure map in the report shows distances beyond the fixed wind farms are expected to host next generation floating turbines. The report states that “deployment of offshore wind energy across all major U.S. coastal areas requires using both fixed-bottom and floating substructures because of varying water depths.”
Yet another initiative in the report is termed “Connect,” an initiative to develop transmission solutions for large-scale offshore wind energy development.
The fourth and final initiative in the report is “Transform,” an effort to support offshore wind co-generation. In this initiative, offshore wind energy will be used to produce another energy solution, such as hydrogen co-generation. The report calls this initiative “wind to x technologies.”
This report is one federal department’s strategic vision of its role and its goals in offshore wind development. Remember that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has been the lead agency on offshore wind implementation, and it sits in another department entirely – the U.S. Department of the Interior.
What the DOE report makes clear is an all-out push into offshore wind leaves little room for deceleration as pockets of opposition emerge. A goal of 30 GW of wind energy in just the next seven years is not conducive to “stopping” along the way.   
Contact the author, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.