US needs $36 billion to meet offshore wind 'port infrastructure gap'
US needs $36 billion to meet offshore wind 'port infrastructure gap' | Windpower Monthly
Some $36 billion is needed to address the US’s offshore wind port infrastructure gap over the next decade, according to a new report.
Trade group the Business Network for Offshore Wind released the report, Building a National Network of Offshore Wind Ports, along with Clean Energy Terminals, an offshore wind port developer.
According to the report, a lack of port infrastructure is one of the most significant bottlenecks impeding the US offshore wind industry.
Port capacity will continue to be a major constraint across the country without additional government funding and policy supports that incentivise or derisk private investment in offshore wind, the report said.
The estimated $36 billion cost to level up port infrastructure was calculated on the assumption the US would reach its offshore wind goals of 30GW by 2030 and 110GW by 2050.
To meet these targets, the US needs between 99 and 119 port development sites across the east coast, west coast and the Gulf of Mexico to support the full buildout of the industry, with a third of those needed on the west coast to support new offshore wind projects.
The country currently has 35 suitable ports operating or under development.
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.