Offshore Wind Wire

By David McGlinchey

In a report released this week, the Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition said offshore wind research and development has been neglected and requires a significant federal funding boost to ensure a competitive advantage over international competition.

The report, Great Expectations U.S. Wind Energy Development, was released Tuesday by the 29-state coalition.

“The nation has neglected to provide adequate research and development to support the development of resources located offshore,” the report said.  “Federal research funding is needed to develop new types of turbines, off shore installation and mooring techniques, and economical approaches for placing transmission lines farther from shore in deeper, rougher water.”

The report noted that offshore wind development in the United States will necessarily take place in deeper water than existing construction in Europe.  That difference, the coalition suggested, “will require new approaches and technological advances … the U.S. now has an opportunity to take the lead in developing these advances and techniques, but will soon lose this opportunity to Europe and China if aggressive action is not undertaken..”

The report also called on Congress and the Obama Administration to establish a three-year pilot process to coordinate the layers of agencies and jurisdictions that an offshore wind developer must work through.  The coalition noted that on the federal level alone, a coastal wind developer must deal with the Department of the Interior, the Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

“This is the first set of comprehensive wind energy recommendations ever submitted to Congress by a group of the nation’s governors,” said Gov. Donald Carcieri (D-RI), the vice-chair of the coalition.