As Thanksgiving approaches, the pioneers of the US offshore wind market are making progress in establishing a new industry. Fittingly, Massachusetts is at the forefront of this progress, with DONG Energy’s proposed 1GW Bay State Wind project just south of Martha’s Vineyard. With the successful auction by New Jersey of rights for 3.4GW of capacity, won by RES and US Wind, and the proposed 1GW Morro Bay development off the coast of California it looks as if the US market is finally gaining momentum.
It was only a few short months ago that we were writing about the massive potential of US offshore wind and how it may be on the cusp of realising some of that potential. It’s great to see the momentum increase in what seems such as short period. My European colleagues have had 10 years of the ups and downs of creating a new industry there – I’m sure we’ll have a lot of that to come, but now is a time to celebrate. Perhaps one of the best signs of progress is the employment of 300 local workers in the construction of the Block Island offshore wind farm.
This general state of optimism is reinforced by comments by both Deepwater Wind and Bay State Wind (DONG Energy) stating confidence in the prospects of financing their proposed projects.
I’m looking forward to further building this market momentum at the Offshore Wind Strategy Workshop hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of the Interior on December 10.
This year, I am especially thankful for all those in driving the offshore wind industry forward, and in doing so creating energy security, economic prosperity, opportunity and a clean energy future. I’m also looking forward to having even more to be thankful for next year.
Charles Nordstrom
Associate
BVGA
