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The U.S. Wind Industry Is Racking Up Big Wins
By
Felicity Bradstock - Sep 24, 2022
The U.S. wind energy market is set for explosive growth, with
the Biden Administration aiming to rival European and Asian markets
for the renewable energy source.
-
The U.S.
wind energy market is set for explosive growth, with the Biden
Administration aiming to rival European and Asian markets for the
renewable energy source.
-
The
Biden Administration is aiming to build out 15GW of floating
offshore wind capacity by 2035, a push that will complement its
plans for 30GW of (mainly fixed-bottom) offshore wind by 2030.
-
If the
U.S. is able to successfully build out significant floating
offshore wind capacity, it will be able to take advantage of far
larger and currently untapped waters with higher wind potential.
![](images/images_09_26_2022/pic2.jpg)
The U.S.
is making plans to boost its wind production to compete with other
major players and become an international hub for the renewable energy
source. The United States might be moving late, compared to major wind
markets in Europe, but Biden is rapidly changing the face of the
country’s wind energy sector, offering it the potential for rapid,
widescale growth. President
Biden believes the U.S. could swiftly grow its wind power to rival
that of Europe and Asia, which have both already established strong
wind energy sectors over the past few decades. The government is now
aiming for 15GW of floating offshore wind capacity by 2035. The White
House recently released a statement
saying,
“The Biden-Harris Administration is launching coordinated actions to
develop new floating offshore wind platforms, an emerging clean energy
technology that will help the United States lead on offshore wind.”
This new
aim builds upon Biden’s existing target of 30 GW of offshore wind
capacity by 2030, mainly coming from fixed-bottom installations. The
government expects 15 GW could power over 5 million homes with clean
energy. By investing heavily in the rollout of floating wind
installations, the cost of the technology is expected to be reduced by
around 70 percent by 2035, to $45 per megawatt-hour.
The
floating wind turbine technology means that the installations can be
installed in deeper water than the fixed-bottom versions. This would
expand America’s wind potential by allowing energy companies to access
wind resources in untapped waters. The Department of Energy (DoE)
believes there are around 4.3 terawatts (4,300GW) of potential wind
energy off the U.S. coastline, with only 1.5 terawatts available in
areas where fixed-bottom turbines could be constructed.
While the
U.S. is fairly new to the offshore wind game, in November 2021 ground
was officially broken on the country’s “first commercial-scale
offshore wind farm”, showing the potential for rapid growth in the
sector. Annual electricity in consumption in the U.S. stands at around
3.9 trillion kilowatt-hours, meaning that the country’s wind energy
potential could go a long way to meeting this demand.
In
addition to the announcement of ambitious wind energy targets, Biden
also rolled out his
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,
which strongly supports the growth of America’s wind energy capacity.
He also suggested the DoE will soon be offering around
$50 million
in research, development, and demonstration funding. Some investment
will be available as a prize for a company that can optimize floating
wind platform technologies, while $31 million in funding will be given
to the
ATLANTIS program
to help develop the installations.
By
developing wind farms along most of the West Coast, Hawaii, and the
Great Lakes, as well as part of the East Coast, the U.S. could soon
become a wind energy hub, growing its capacity to compete against
major international players in Europe and Asia. But much of this
development will rely on improving the regulatory environment and
reducing costs for wind turbine operations.
The DoE
introduced the
‘SunShot’
program around a decade ago to tackle
high solar PV costs, quickly finding that most of the expenses were
related to permitting costs, support hardware like inverters, and
adapting the grid to respond to intermittent power. While wind
turbines are expensive to produce, addressing other regulatory and
related challenges could support the rapid development of America’s
wind energy sector.
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The drive
for wind energy development is part of Biden’s anticipated bigger
renewable energy boom. In August, President Biden introduced a
ground-breaking climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The
new law aims to double America’s solar and wind energy output by 2030
to provide the majority of the country’s electricity supply.
In
addition to supporting the growth of the renewable energy sector, the
IRA will also offer funding and tax incentives to boost the country’s
manufacturing industry. To move away from its reliance on major
manufacturing sources, such as China, the Biden Administration hopes
to encourage the development of manufacturing industries that support
this green energy transition. Within the coming decades, the U.S. will
likely produce many of the solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries
it requires to support its green revolution.
Energy
experts were shocked to see how far-reaching America’s first climate
bill appears to be. Robbie Orvis, a senior director of analysis at
Energy
Innovation,
stated:
“this bill is going to make it very cheap to create clean electricity
– you are going to get an incredible amount of deployment of solar and
wind.” He added, “It will really unleash investment in renewables. It
has all the incentives to grow the industry domestically. It’s a
complete jump-start for renewables.”
As the
U.S. launches several new policies and targets in support of the rapid
transition to green energy, energy firms across the country are
preparing to roll out major wind and solar power projects, among other
innovative renewable energy ideas. While the U.S. may have fallen
behind other major world powers in its renewable energy development in
recent years, this drive for rapid expansion could see it quickly
rival some of the major international players.
By
Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com
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