Washington, D.C.: The United States’ offshore wind industry is set to grow exponentially—from only one operating wind farm (Block Island Wind Farm in Rhode Island) to about 30 more offshore wind projects that are currently under development. To enable the further development and growth of the offshore wind industry, various energy professionals in the non-partisan OurEnergyPolicy community recommend that policymakers and the energy industry take five actions:

1. Build out and optimize transmission lines.
2. Streamline offshore wind project approvals on the federal, state, and local levels.
3. Extend the federal offshore wind tax credit.
4. Establish state policies to enable industry growth.
5. Continue to fund research and development of offshore wind technologies.

OurEnergyPolicy released details on these five recommendations in the document, Expert Dialogue: Realizing the Promise of Offshore Wind, along with insights into offshore wind farms’ ability to withstand hurricanes. The recommendations and commentary come from an online OurEnergyPolicy discussion, led by Laura Morton (American Wind Energy Association) with participation by energy professionals across the United States, and a live panel discussion held in New York City. OurEnergyPolicy is a non-partisan platform, and these recommendations come from individuals, not from the organization.

Experts who provided recommendations and insights, as quoted in the document, include Morton, Rudolph Wynter (National Grid), Elliot Taubman (Commissioner of the Block Island Utility District), and Clint Plummer (US at Ørsted, now CEO at Ravenswood Generating).

“The federal government should continue processing offshore wind project plans in an expeditious manner consistent with the Administration’s directives and conduct new lease auctions,” Morton said. “All capital-intensive energy industries need regulatory stability.”

Wynter commented on the need for expanding and optimizing transmission lines to connect to new offshore wind capacity.

“A tremendous amount of work has to be done to debottleneck and remove constraints on the existing transmission network,” Wynter said. “We always want our infrastructure to be an enabler and not an inhibitor.”

Read more from the full document and/or read highlights. 

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About OurEnergyPolicy: OurEnergyPolicy is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan organization dedicated to advancing and facilitating substantive, responsible dialogue on energy policy issues and providing this discourse as a resource for the public, policymakers, and the media. OurEnergyPolicy also serves as a one-stop resource hub for all things energy policy and includes a free resource library, aggregated energy headlines, and national energy events calendar. OurEnergyPolicy does not advocate or endorse any specific points of views, but rather, works to encourage a broad discussion.

Alicia Moulton

Communications Manager
amoulton@ourenergypolicy.org
(202) 805-4166