US East Coast states gearing up for offshore wind boom

U.S. East Coast states are bracing for an offshore wind boom as a new presidential administration signals support for the burgeoning industry.

President Joe Biden's administration on March 8 published the environmental statement for the proposed 800-MW Vineyard Offshore Wind Project off the coast of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, being developed by Avangrid Inc. subsidiary Avangrid Renewables LLC and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners K/S. Publication of the statement marks the final stretch of a regulatory process, and a decision on the project will be made following a 30-day public comment period.

States have recognized the economic opportunities the new industry will bring and ramping up efforts to build up supply chains for offshore wind.

The North Carolina Department of Commerce on March 3 published a 131-page report by renewable energy-focused consulting firm BVG Associates. The report argues the state can marshal its strong manufacturing sector and strategic port locations to capture a slice of the offshore wind market as East Coast states prepare for 40 GW of offshore wind installations by 2035. Manufacturing employs more than 470,000 workers in the state, according to the report, which identified ports in Morehead City and Wilmington as potential locations for offshore wind hubs.

The 30-MW Block Island wind farm off of Rhode Island is to date the largest operating offshore wind facility in the U.S. Source: Deepwater Wind LLC

"To reach the capacity targets for wind projects already publicly announced by states and site developers, BVGA expects the industry will invest $140 billion by 2035 to establish and build out its supply chain, install equipment, and operate the wind facilities," the commerce agency said in an announcement. "BVGA forecasts North Carolina manufacturers can address and supply equipment for the entire East Coast market, not just for projects directly off the state's coast."

BVG Associates is developing an inventory of state businesses, organizations and infrastructure to promote offshore wind in North Carolina. The report comes out of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's efforts to expand renewable energy. The state has a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by midcentury.

The report carries numerous recommendations, telling the state to set an offshore wind deployment target, attract anchor company supplies that focus on major offshore wind components and to strengthen port assets. The lack of transmission poses "one of the largest barriers" to the offshore wind market, the report said. A Dec. 15, 2020, update by the North Carolina Transmission Planning Collaborative, whose membership includes major utilities, identified 29 possible injection sites in eastern North Carolina and two in Virginia, the report noted. A study of three of those sites is underway.

Avangrid, itself a subsidiary of Iberdrola SA of Spain, in 2017 paid the U.S. $9 million for a 122,405-acre wind energy lease area 24 miles off the shores of Corolla, N.C. The company believes its Kitty Hawk Offshore Wind Farm has the potential for 2,500 MW of generation, enough to power 700,000 homes. Duke Energy Corp., which supplies power to 3.5 million customers in North Carolina, also in its 2020 integrated resource plan identified high-wind scenarios that contemplate up to 2,650 MW of offshore wind in its portfolio by 2035.

While East Coast states are competing for offshore wind jobs, they are also collaborating; in October 2020, the governors of North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia announced a collaboration to advance offshore wind projects in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions. The Southeast and Mid-Atlantic Regional Transformative Partnership for Offshore Wind Energy Resources, or SMART-POWER, will "work to streamline the development of regional offshore wind resources," an announcement said.

Virginia pushes for quicker federal action

On March 8, Virginia's two U.S. senators, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, and Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., sent a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management urging the Interior Department agency to speed up the regulatory process for offshore wind off Virginia's coast. In December 2020, Dominion Energy Inc. submitted a construction and operations plan for the proposed 2,640-MW Virginia Beach Offshore Wind Project (Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind) project.

"Offshore wind is poised for substantial growth at a time when we must seize opportunities to help our region and nation recover from the economic devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic," the legislators said in the letter. "However, we are concerned that bottlenecks in the permitting process slow progress and prevent critical investments in the US offshore wind industry. We understand that developers have submitted thirteen [construction and operations plans] to BOEM but have not received a clear timeline for action. This backlog could delay the development of an offshore wind industry supply chain."