OFFSHORE WIND
Today, onshore wind power is the most productive renewable energy source in America, generating nearly half of its renewable energy. In 2022, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA),renewable energy sources accounted for about 20.1% of all electricity generated (primarily from wind, solar & hydropower) --of which 9.2.% was from wind, up from 8.4% in 2019 . The growth of wind power has been astonishing – especially when you consider that wind energy only made up 0.2% of U.S. electricity generating capacity in 1990. The U.S. is now investing more in a clean energy transition than any other country in the world except China --which has got us seriously beat.
Offshore wind is well developed in other parts of the world but just getting started in the U.S. Our explosion is about to occur.
The first five turbines, a 30 MW project developed by Deepwater Wind (now owned by Orsted) went live in 2016 providing 100% energy to Block Island with the excess going to Rhode Island’s mainland. Two years later, in 2018, Amory B. Lovins, co-founder and chief scientist at the Rocky Mountain Institute, a Colorado-based nonprofit organization that advises on renewable energy, said, “We could run the whole East Coast on offshore wind.” His words were prescient although we did endure four years of apparent federal inactivity from 2017-2020.
This changed after Biden’s election in 2021 with the administration moving swiftly to announce a goal of 30 GW from offshore wind by 2030.
- In May, 2021, BOEM had approved Vineyard Wind, calling for 84-turbines to be installed in the Atlantic Ocean about 12 nautical miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. Together, they have the ability to generate about 800 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 400,000 homes.
- Also in May, BOEM gave its blessing to two areas off the California coast.
- By October, 2021, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said that her agency will begin to identify, demarcate and hope to eventually lease federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of Maine and off the coasts of the Mid-Atlantic States, North Carolina and South Carolina, California and Oregon, to wind power developers by 2025.
- By January, 2022, BOEM’s review of the South Fork Wind Farm, a 15-turbine, 132 MW project southeast off Long Island, with a cable landing in Wainscott, a hamlet within the Town of East Hampton, was complete and approved. Despite a significant amount of litigation, construction is proceeding and Orsid operations are scheduled to begin at the end of 2023 powering 70,000 New York homes.
- In February, 2022, the U.S. netted a record $4.37 billion from the sale of six additional offshore wind leases off the coasts of New York and New Jersey. When these turbines are built and operational, the auctioned acres are expected to generate up to 7,000 megawatts, enough to power nearly 2 million homes. The Interior Department has said between that project and others currently under review, it hopes to see some 2,000 turbines churning from Massachusetts to North Carolina by the end of this decade.
By Heather Richards and Others Photo: Drew Angerer , Getty Images
The apparent mixed signals underscore the fine line the climate-focused President Joe Biden has tried to walk on his management of the federal oil program — the one arena where a president holds influence over…
By Michael Wright
Wind farm developer Ørsted announced last week that it has reached an agreement with the North American Building Trades Unions, NABTU, to use an all-American union workforce in the construction... more
By Sarah DeWeerdt
“This is much farther than has been considered before when making recommendations about siting wind turbines to avoid such bird concentrations,” says study team member Jeff Buler, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Delaware…
By Sharon Udasin
Approximately 3 gigawatts of offshore wind should be powering the state’s grid by 2030 — enough to power about 3 million average homes in the state, the California Energy Commission determined.
By Wayne Parry Photo: Wayne Parry
Orsted, the Danish wind power developer, signed an agreement Thursday with New Jersey officials to use a state-financed manufacturing port to build the components of the state's first offshore wind farm. Gov. Phil Murphy announced…
By Lulia Gheorghiu Photo: Matt Cardy , Getty Images
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is evaluating the potential for new offshore wind leasing areas on the Central Atlantic and Pacific coasts, agency director Amanda Lefton said at the International Offshore Wind Partnering Forum…
By Elizabeth Royte Photo: Neil Ever Osborne
Block Island, 15 miles off the coast at its farthest point, has always been at the mercy of the four winds. Raging winter gusts have been known to rip porches off houses and knock stones…
By Teresa R. Christopher & Others Photo: David L. Ryan , Getty Images
In April 2021, the United States set an ambitious climate target of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, a 100 percent carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035, and a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas…
By Lisa Friedman Photo: Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
The United States government netted a record $4.37 billion on Friday from the sale of six offshore wind leases off the coasts of New York and New Jersey, a major step in the Biden administration’s…
By Emma Newburger Photo: Davee hughes | Getty Images
The federal government on Friday announced a record $4.37 billion sale of six offshore wind leases off the coasts of New York and New Jersey, moving forward the Biden administration’s goal to transition from fossil…
Governor Kathy Hochul today, alongside United States Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and other elected officials, celebrated the start of construction of South Fork Wind, New York's first offshore wind project, jointly developed by…
05/16/22
Application of Deepwater Wind South Fork, LLC for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need for the Construction of Approximately 3.5 Miles of Submarine Export Cable from the New York State Territorial Waters Boundary…
05/13/22
We own and operate the Block Island Wind Farm, America’s first offshore wind farm, and are the leading developer in the U.S. with ~5,000MW of awarded capacity through seven projects on the East Coast. Our…
05/13/22
South Fork Wind brings unparalleled experience to Long Island. The 132 MW offshore wind farm will address East Hampton's energy needs, producing enough clean energy to power 70,000 homes. When complete, the 12 turbines will…
05/13/22
Offshore wind is America’s next major energy source, representing a generational opportunity to create jobs and bolster the economy. It is an abundant clean energy solution for large population centers looking to source more of…
05/10/22
Long Island is poised to play a central role in the development of offshore wind (OSW) in New York State. Governor Cuomo has set an ambitious goal of 9,000 megawatts from OSW in New York…
By Alex Brown Photo: Sean D. Elliot 02/07/22
The United States currently produces almost no electricity from wind farms in ocean waters. That’s about to change—fast. State leaders have spent years laying the groundwork: requiring their utilities to purchase set amounts of offshore…
01/19/22
South Fork Wind, New York’s first offshore wind farm, has received approval of the project’s Construction and Operations Plan (COP) from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which is…
By Mary Serreze Photo: Mary Serreze 11/26/21
The Ørsted/Eversource project will power New York homes, but the turbine foundations are being fabricated in Rhode Island.
By Dino Grandoni Photo: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg 11/24/21
President Biden’s administration greenlit a major offshore wind project to supply power to New York, arriving as part of a broader push to build out renewable energy and tackle climate change.
By Coral Davenport and Lisa Friedman Photo: Chang W.Lee , The New York Times 10/13/21
Construction on the nation’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm is expected to begin this summer, after the Biden administration gave final approval Tuesday to a project it hopes will herald a new era of wind…
By Coral Davenport Photo: Kayana Szymczak , The New York Times 10/13/21
The notion of wind farms churning in the Pacific Ocean, creating clean energy to power homes and businesses, has long been dismissed because of logistical challenges posed by a deep ocean floor and opposition from…
By Coral Davenport Photo: Kayana Szymczak 10/13/21
The Biden administration announced on Wednesday a plan to develop large-scale wind farms along nearly the entire coastline of the United States, the first long-term strategy from the government to produce electricity from offshore turbines.
By Georgena Terry 06/21/21
In late March, President Joe Biden announced an offshore wind goal of 30 GW by 2030 in a manner that protects environmental assets and creates employment. Through a coordinated multi-agency approach, Biden plans to fast…
By Lisa Friedman Photo: Pat O'Malley , The New York Times 06/11/21
The Biden administration on Friday announced that it would begin the formal process of selling leases to develop offshore wind farms in shallow waters between Long Island and New Jersey as part of its push…
By Ivan Penn Photo: Eze Amos 06/07/21
A constellation of 5,400 offshore wind turbines meet a growing portion of Europe’s energy needs. The United States has exactly seven. The U.S. has fallen way behind Europe partly because of an old shipping law…
By Coral Davenport Photo: Kayana Szymczak , The New York Times 05/26/21
The offshore wind industry has boomed in parts of the world, particularly near the coasts of Norway and the United Kingdom, but not off the West Coast of the United States. This week, the Biden…
By Lisa Friedman Photo: Chang W. Lee , The New York Times 05/25/21
The Biden administration has promised to build up the offshore wind industry, and this week it began to make good on that pledge by granting final approval to the nation’s first large-scale offshore wind farm,…
By Lisa Friedman and Brad Plumer Photo: Phil Noble , Reuters 05/25/21
The Biden administration on Monday announced a plan to vastly expand the use of offshore wind power along the East Coast, aiming to tap a potentially huge new source of renewable energy that has so…
By Joshua Partlow Photo: Michael Dwyer/AP 05/11/21
The Biden administration on Tuesday approved the first large-scale offshore wind farm in the United States, a project that envisions building 62 turbines off Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts and creating enough electricity to power 400,000…
By Ivan Penn Photo: Chang W. Lee/The New York Times 07/18/19
New York State, which last month passed an ambitious law to reduce the emissions that cause climate change, said Thursday that it had reached an agreement for two large offshore wind projects.
By Debra West Photo: Johnny Milano for The New York Times 06/20/19
This affluent enclave on the East End of Long Island is steeped in eco-conscious pride, with strict water quality and land preservation rules and an abundance of electric cars on the roads.
By Stanley Reed and Ivan Penn Photo: Tony Luong for The New York Times 05/23/18
The wind farms have increasingly become mainstream sources of power in Northern Europe, but the United States has largely not pursued the technology.
By Diane Cardwell Photo: Andrew Yates , Reuters 01/29/15
Not too long ago, in 2013, the Obama administration began auctioning off leases for offshore wind farms up and down the Eastern Seaboard, hoping to spur a nascent industry.
