by Brianna Crandall — February 23, 2011—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) unveiled on February 7 a coordinated strategic plan to accelerate the development of offshore wind energy, including new funding opportunities for up to $50.5 million. The joint National Offshore Wind Strategy: Creating an Offshore Wind Industry in the United States is the first-ever interagency plan on offshore wind energy.
The plan focuses on overcoming three key challenges: the relatively high cost of offshore wind energy; the technical challenges surrounding installation, operations and grid interconnection; and the lack of site data and experience with project permitting processes. DOE is offering funding to develop breakthrough offshore wind energy technology and to reduce specific market barriers to its deployment.
DOI also identified four high-priority “wind energy areas” offshore of the Mid-Atlantic states of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia that will spur rapid, responsible development of wind energy. The areas will benefit from coordinated environmental studies, large-scale planning, and expedited approval processes. DOI expects to identify wind energy areas off the North Atlantic states, including Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and the South Atlantic region, namely North Carolina, this spring.
The initiatives are part of DOI’s “Smart from the Start” program, announced in November 2010 and designed to speed appropriate commercial-scale wind energy development. The plan includes deployment of 10 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind generating capacity by 2020 and 54 GW by 2030, reportedly enough energy to power 2.8 million and 15.2 million average American homes.
