FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Broadcasts New Actions to Increase U.S. Offshore Wind Power
Courtesy of The White Home
At this time, the Biden–Harris Administration is launching coordinated actions to develop new floating offshore wind platforms, an rising clear vitality know-how that can assist the USA lead on offshore wind. In tandem with President Biden’s financial and clear vitality agenda, these actions will create good-paying jobs, decrease vitality prices for households, and strengthen U.S. vitality safety. Since taking workplace, President Biden’s imaginative and prescient and management has jumpstarted the American offshore wind business and made America a magnet for clear vitality investments. The President set a daring objective of deploying 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030, sufficient to energy 10 million properties with clear vitality, assist 77,000 jobs, and spur personal funding up and down the provision chain.
Typical offshore wind generators might be secured on to the ocean ground in shallow waters close to the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. Nevertheless, deep-water areas that require floating platforms are house to two-thirds of America’s offshore wind vitality potential, together with alongside the West Coast and within the Gulf of Maine. The Administration’s new actions will seize this huge potential to energy tens of millions of properties and companies, develop new manufacturing and maritime industries at house, and sort out the local weather disaster.
At this time’s actions will place the U.S. to guide the world on floating offshore wind know-how. Globally, solely 0.1 GW of floating offshore wind has been deployed to this point, in contrast with over 50 GW of fixed-bottom offshore wind. America will seize this chance to be a frontrunner on floating offshore wind applied sciences, as a part of President Biden’s plan for a clear vitality financial system constructed by American staff.
At this time, White Home Nationwide Local weather Advisor Gina McCarthy, Power Secretary Jennifer Granholm, and Inside Secretary Deb Haaland are becoming a member of state officers to announce:
- New Floating Offshore Wind ShotTM to Decrease Prices by 70 %: Via the Power EarthshotTM program, the Administration will create a brand new Floating Offshore Wind Shot to speed up breakthroughs throughout engineering, manufacturing, and different innovation areas. The Floating Offshore Wind Shot will goal to scale back the prices of floating applied sciences by greater than 70% by 2035, to $45 per megawatt-hour.
- New Objective to Attain 15 GW by 2035: The Administration will advance lease areas in deep waters with the intention to deploy 15 GW of floating offshore wind capability by 2035—constructing on the President’s current objective of deploying 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030, which shall be largely met utilizing fixed-bottom know-how.
- Analysis & Growth Investments: To assist these targets, this week the Administration launched a brand new prize competitors for floating offshore wind platform applied sciences; initiatives funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation to develop modeling instruments for mission design and to research port wants; and different funding for analysis, improvement, and demonstration efforts.
These new targets, initiatives, and investments give attention to floating applied sciences and construct on the Administration’s all-of-government strategy to growing offshore wind whereas advancing environmental justice, defending biodiversity, and selling ocean co-use. Via the Inflation Discount Act, President Biden secured clear vitality tax credit that can additional speed up this new American business and a thriving home provide chain, with assist for Made in America wind turbine blades, fixed-bottom and floating platforms, set up vessels, and extra.
NEW FLOATING OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY EARTHSHOT
Secretaries Granholm and Haaland introduced the Floating Offshore Wind ShotTM, a brand new initiative to develop clear vitality capability and drive U.S. management in floating offshore wind design, improvement, and manufacturing. The Floating Offshore Wind Shot is an initiative led by the Departments of Power (DOE), Inside (DOI), Commerce, and Transportation. DOE and the Nationwide Science Basis may also collaborate on analysis and workforce improvement in assist of the Floating Offshore Wind Shot.
The Floating Offshore Wind Shot consists of an formidable objective to scale back the price of floating offshore wind vitality by greater than 70%, to $45 per megawatt-hour by 2035. Reaching this price goal would require centered analysis, improvement, and demonstration to catalyze continued price reductions, with a give attention to manufacturing, engineering, and continued will increase of offshore wind turbine capability. Companies may also proceed collaborating to develop the sturdy home provide chain and transmission infrastructure wanted to speed up floating in addition to fixed-bottom offshore wind.
The Floating Offshore Wind Shot will promote ocean co-use, shield biodiversity, and advance environmental justice—together with by ensuring the advantages of offshore wind deployment attain underserved communities, in assist of President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative. This new goal is a part of DOE’s Power EarthshotsTM initiative to sort out key remaining technical challenges to reaching U.S. local weather targets. Along with harnessing untapped potential for producing clear electrical energy, floating offshore wind may also assist economy-wide decarbonization, together with by utilizing floating offshore wind for co-generation of fresh fuels and vitality storage.
NEW FLOATING OFFSHORE WIND DEPLOYMENT GOAL
DOI additionally introduced a brand new objective to deploy 15 GW of put in floating offshore wind capability by 2035—sufficient clear vitality to energy over 5 million American properties. This builds on the Administration’s objective to deploy 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030. DOI’s Bureau of Ocean Power Administration (BOEM) will advance lease areas in deep waters for floating know-how, beginning with a lease public sale off the coast of California by the top of 2022. Reaching this formidable goal will spur billions of {dollars} of financial alternatives and keep away from an estimated 26 million metric tons of carbon emissions yearly.
Bringing floating offshore wind know-how to scale will unlock new alternatives for offshore wind energy off the coasts of California and Oregon, within the Gulf of Maine, and past. Tapping into these assets will develop clear American vitality provides and contribute considerably to attaining local weather targets set by the President and Governors throughout the nation. States, Tribes, coastal communities, and ocean customers will proceed to play a key position all through the method to make sure that in assembly our local weather targets, we create good-paying union jobs and assist financial alternatives in native and underserved communities.
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT INVESTMENTS
To assist these formidable new targets on floating offshore wind, DOE introduced practically $50 million—together with assist from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation—for analysis, improvement, and demonstration funding:
- Floating Offshore Wind Readiness Prize: This week, DOE introduced a $6.85 million prize competitors that challenges rivals to optimize floating platform applied sciences and work to get them prepared for wide-scale home manufacturing and commercialization.
- Floating Offshore Wind Array Design Mission: DOE introduced a $3 million mission funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation to develop a set of modeling instruments to assist business and researchers design commercial-scale floating offshore wind farm arrays in U.S. waters, together with their anchors, mooring strains, and subsea energy cables.
- West Coast Ports Evaluation: DOE introduced a virtually $1 million mission funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation to scale back key infrastructure challenges by outlining a community of West Coast ports and upgrades wanted to deploy commercial-scale floating offshore wind.
- West Coast Transmission Evaluation: DOE introduced an evaluation to evaluate current transmission research and establish analysis gaps associated to offshore wind integration in California, Oregon, and Washington. This work will assist inform future evaluation efforts that can assist in transmission planning and buildout.
- Atlantis II: DOE’s Superior Analysis Initiatives Company-Power (ARPA-E) intends to announce $31 million in funding by way of part two of its Aerodynamic Generators, Lighter and Afloat, with Nautical Applied sciences and Built-in Servo-control (ATLANTIS) program. The ATLANTIS program focuses on novel types of methods engineering for floating offshore wind methods to drive down prices. This second part of the ATLANTIS program will give attention to experimental testing in ocean, lake, and tank and tunnel environments to additional develop new know-how for floating offshore wind generators.
- Environmental Analysis Award: DOE and BOEM introduced a $1.6 million mission to assist coexistence of floating offshore wind with bats on the West Coast of the USA.
- Ocean Co-Use and Transmission Analysis Awards: The Nationwide Offshore Wind R&D Consortium, a partnership established with funding from DOE and the New York State Power Analysis and Growth Authority, introduced 5 initiatives totaling $3.5 million to facilitate ocean space coexistence with marine mammals and fishing and to assist offshore wind transmission for each fixed-bottom and floating applied sciences.
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