News Details
The Coast of Virtually Limitless Wind Offshore wind industry in the United States
Current offshore projects in the USA
The US wind industry is slowly gaining momentum: Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy announced in early 2020 that it will supply turbines for a total capacity of 2,640 MW to Dominion Energy Virginia Offshore Wind, the largest US offshore wind farm to date. The states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island approved the first 1.2 GW in 2018. Among the winners of the Rhode Island tender was the project developer Deepwater Wind, which is backed by a group of US investors. The company will build the 400 MW Revolution Wind Farm in the Atlantic, with work scheduled to start in 2022.In Massachusetts, the Spanish utility company Iberdrola and the Danish investor Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) were awarded the contract for an 800 MW project. The first offshore wind farm was connected to the grid near Block Island, 300 km northeast of New York, in 2016. Designed as a test farm, it consists of five Haliade 150 offshore turbines by General Electric, each with a capacity of 6 MW.
National Offshore Wind Strategy
The USA launched its National Offshore Wind Strategy back in 2011, which included building offshore wind farms with a capacity of 10 GW by 2020. Total output is expected to rise to 54 GW by 2050. The former US President Barack Obama even raised the objective to 86 GW in 2016. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, a federal agency, is responsible for auctioning the marine areas.
Floating Wind Turbines in California
The German energy supplier EnBW AG and Tridents Wind Inc. from Seattle have formed a joint venture. Their plan is to realise the Morro Bay offshore wind project off the Californian coast to deliver up to 1,000 MW. The partners will use innovative floating wind technology. EnBW has a regional company in the United States, EnBW North America. The US project developer Magellan Wind and the Danish company CIP have also established a partnership to develop floating wind turbines in California.
About Tom Mikus
I’ve been working as an International Project Manager for the Renewable Energy Hamburg Cluster since 2019. At the cluster, I focus on sharing information about renewable energies beyond Germany's borders. I report on the current developments and activities of the Hamburg cluster and renewable energy hub at an international level.
