The OurEnergyLibrary aggregates and indexes publicly available fact sheets, journal articles, reports, studies, and other publications on U.S. energy topics. It is updated every week to include the most recent energy resources from academia, government, industry, non-profits, think tanks, and trade associations. Suggest a resource by emailing us at info@ourenergypolicy.org.
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Offshore wind energy holds the promise of significant environmental and economic benefits for the United States. It is an abundant, low-carbon, domestic energy resource. It is located close to major coastal load centers, providing an alternative to long-distance transmission or development of electricity generation in these land-constrained regions. Once built, offshore wind farms could produce energy at low, long-term fixed costs, which can reduce electricity prices and improve energy security by providing a hedge against fossil fuel price volatility.
Realizing these benefits will require overcoming critical challenges in three strategic themes: 1) reducing the costs and technical risks associated with …
View Full ResourceExpensive, environmentally harmfual, offshore wind is being forced on American consumers in the Northeast. The first offshore wind farm off the coast of Block Island, Rhode Island, will begin operating later this fall at a cost of the 30-megawatt wind farm is $300 million–$10,000 a kilowatt – over 10 times more than the cost of a new combined natural gas power plant cycle unit, and 58 percent more costly than what the Energy Information Administration estimated America’s first offshore wind unit to cost–$6,331 per kilowatt. Massachusetts, a Republican governor, Charlie Baker, recently signed a bipartisan bill ordering the state’s utilities …
View Full ResourceThis study models the cost of electricity from 2,000 MW of offshore wind energy, deployed off the coast of Massachusetts throughout the period 2020-2030. We find that costs will be far lower than previously contracted prices for offshore wind in the New England region and that costs will continuously lower throughout a buildout during the decade, due to ongoing technology and industry advances and the effects of making a Massachusetts market visible to the industry.…
View Full ResourceWind energy power generation is on the rise around the world, due to its low fixed prices and lack of greenhouse gas emissions. A cumulative total of 369,553 megawatts (MW) of wind energy capacity was installed globally by the end of 2014. Of that total, only two percent came from offshore wind farms, which are able to capture stronger and more reliable ocean winds to generate electricity.
Most offshore wind capacity is in Europe, where there are 3,072 grid-connected offshore wind turbines at 82 farms spanning 11 countries, for a total of 10,393.6 MW of wind energy capacity as of …
View Full ResourcePresident Barack Obama recently took a historic step toward curbing carbon pollution from America’s power plants by issuing the final version of the Clean Power Plan. The plan—designed to fulfill the Environmental Protection Agency’s, or EPA’s, legal requirements to regulate pollution that causes climate change under the authority of the Clean Air Act—requires each state to achieve its own individual carbon emissions reduction target by 2030. The EPA estimates that the Clean Power Plan will cumulatively reduce carbon pollution from the U.S. electric power sector by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.1
About one year from now, on September …
View Full ResourceThis report provides data and analysis to assess the status of the U.S. offshore wind industry through June 30, 2015. It builds on the foundation laid by the Navigant Consortium, which produced three market reports between 2012 and 2014. The report summarizes domestic and global market developments, technology trends, and economic data to help U.S. offshore wind industry stakeholders, including policymakers, regulators, developers, financiers, and supply chain participants, to identify barriers and opportunities.…
View Full ResourceOffshore wind has tremendous potential in the United States as a clean, renewable source of electricity. This report uses the offshore wind Jobs and Economic Development Impacts (JEDI) model1 and provides four case studies of potential offshore wind deployment scenarios in different regions of the United States: the Southeast, the Great Lakes, the Gulf Coast, and the Mid-Atlantic. Researchers worked with developers and industry representatives in each region to create potential offshore wind deployment and supply chain growth scenarios, specific to their locations. These scenarios were used as inputs into the offshore JEDI model to estimate jobs and other gross …
View Full ResourceAccording to the latest news, the country’s first proposed offshore wind project, Cape Wind, might never be built. Despite the best efforts of Massachusetts state officials to support the market for years, the disappointing news highlights a stark conclusion: current offshore wind policy isn’t working. While the Cape Wind project floundered amidst fierce local opposition, the project’s difficulties highlight a larger policy problem—it is difficult, if not impossible, for any single state to jumpstart the offshore wind industry. With the Northeast’s keystone project in limbo, only a few small projects might be built. Going forward, there is no solid pipeline …
View Full ResourceThe Atlantic coastline is at the epicenter of America’s energy and environmental challenges, with state leaders currently facing critical decisions to meet the region’s growing energy demands and protect our communities and wildlife from the impacts of climate change. The cities, metropolitan areas, and sprawling suburbs that stretch along the East Coast have a massive, pollution-free energy source ready to meet these challenges –– offshore wind.
Responsibly developed offshore wind power offers a golden opportunity to meet our coastal energy needs with a clean, local resource that will spur investments in local economies –– creating unparalleled job growth and avoiding …
View Full ResourceThis report was produced on behalf of the Wind and Water Power Technologies Office within the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) as an award resulting from Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0000414, entitled U.S. Offshore Wind: Removing Market Barriers; Topic Area 1: Offshore Wind Market and Economic Analysis. The objective of this report is to provide a comprehensive annual assessment of the U.S. offshore wind market. The report will be updated and published annually for a three-year period. The report was first published in early 2013 covering research performed in 2012. This 2nd annual …
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