Wind Power Industry Hits Headwinds - Barron's
Wind Power Industry Hits Headwinds
AUGUST 24, 2023
The wind power industry is teetering, with a parade of companies planning to renegotiate or pull out of contracts.
Inflation is erasing profits, causing some of the world’s largest energy firms — including BP, Shell, Denmark’s Orsted, and Norway’s Equinor — to rethink their positions.
2030 (goal)
2021
At risk is President Joe Biden’s goal of having 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power installed by 2030, enough to power roughly 10 million homes.
Credit Suisse analyst Mark Freshney says there’s little chance that the country will reach Biden’s 30-gigawatt goal. “We won’t get there,” he says. “We might get to 15.” The only two offshore wind farms currently operating in the U.S. — one off Rhode Island and one off Virginia — generate less than 0.1% of global offshore wind capacity. Learn more about the challenges facing the offshore wind industry at the link below:
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: wind
Decades of government support for the development of wind energy has resulted in lower costs and a rapidly growing share of electricity generated by wind turbines. Wind in 2019 accounted for 7.3 percent of electrical generation, surpassing for the first time hydropower at 7.0 percent.