State Policies Can Unleash U.S. Commercial Offshore Wind Development

• Published in: Policy File 2017
• Main Author: Polefka, Shiva
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Subjects: Center for American Progress; Energy; Government; Industry

The development of America's offshore wind energy could diversify and substantially decarbonize the nation's electric power portfolio and bring a new surge in investment and employment to the country's working harbors. The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that America's maritime and Great Lakes waters encompass the equivalent of 7,203 terawatt hours per year of electricity generation potential, based on 2016 technological capabilities, and excluding important areas such as shipping lanes and marine protected areas. For comparison, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that domestic electricity consumption in 2015 totaled 4,087.31 terawatt hours, just 57 percent of the clean wind power available offshore. Thanks to tens of billions of dollars in public and private investments in Europe, the economics of offshore wind have evolved rapidly, with dramatic cost declines since 2014 pushing the offshore wind technology toward competitiveness with other zero-carbon energy resources. This in turn has stimulated private-sector demand for offshore wind development rights in U.S. federal waters, by both homegrown American firms, and deep-pocketed international energy companies. Three states---Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York---have each recently passed or promulgated different policies to stimulate private investment in offshore wind development and harness the resource as a major source of clean energy. Policymakers in other U.S. coastal states now have a ripe opportunity to provide what may be the final push needed to bring commercial offshore wind development to fruition and begin capturing the industry's economic and environmental benefits. This report provides an overview of the case for state government action to foster the fledgling domestic offshore wind energy industry and surveys the origin, implementation, and impact of offshore wind policy in three states---Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York. These states serve as exemplary cases for other coastal states endowed with access to this abundant, climate-safe, renewable resource.