Released Mon., Jan. 23, 2023, the highly anticipated “Supply Chain Road Map for Offshore Wind Energy in the United States” identifies key actions that could help to develop a fully domestic U.S. offshore wind energy supply chain. It also evaluates how the supply chain can evolve to support the national offshore wind target and position the industry for sustainable growth beyond 2030.
The offshore wind energy industry in the United States has been gaining momentum for several years as project pipelines have expanded, states have established procurement targets, and initial investments have been made in ports and manufacturing facilities.
Led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), with input from the Business Network for Offshore Wind and Tufts University, “Supply Chain Road Map for Offshore Wind Energy in the United States” builds on high-level demand information from the March 2022 report “The Demand for a Domestic Offshore Wind Energy Supply Chain.” It also presents challenges that could delay supply chain growth, potential solutions to these challenges, and major factors that need to be considered to create a resilient, sustainable, and equitable supply chain.
In it, researchers offer a scenario for a domestic supply chain to estimate the investment and time frame needed to develop key resources like manufacturing facilities, ports, vessels like those in the Guice Offshore fleet, and workforce.
To read the NREL “Road Map” synopsis, click here.
“The opportunity to create a resilient and equitable domestic supply chain is one of the most exciting aspects of our offshore wind goals,” said Matt Shields, Senior Offshore Wind Analyst at NREL. “This supply chain would increase our chances of meeting the 30 GW by 2030 target, create a huge number of jobs and economic benefits, and most importantly, position the sector for sustainable growth beyond 2030. This report identifies critical actions that we need to take as an industry to develop the supply chain quickly, but also strategically and equitably.”
“Developing our nation’s vast offshore wind resources will provide reliable clean energy to coastal communities and help us reach our climate goals. It also presents a significant opportunity to create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs and expand domestic manufacturing across the country,” said Alejandro Moreno, Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. “With the help of the roadmap laid out in this report, we can catalyze progress to realize this immense potential.”
“A manufacturing supply chain is already emerging in more than a dozen locations up and down the U.S. coast in support of the offshore wind industry, which will lead to thousands of well-paying jobs,” said Ross Gould, vice president for Supply Chain Development and Research at the Business Network for Offshore Wind. “To meet our ambitious clean energy national goals, American manufacturers must play a larger role to accelerate our transition. This road map lays out the challenges and collaborative actions needed to bring more domestic companies into the supply chain and the opportunity those businesses bring to building out the U.S. offshore wind industry.”
“To fully realize the potential of offshore wind energy in the United States, it is important we understand the gaps and needs of the current offshore wind supply chain. By understanding the needs of the industry, we can target investments to local businesses and workforce which create economic opportunities while achieving our goals of cleaner, more reliable energy. MEA is proud to participate in a study that brings us closer to realizing the economic and environmental promise of offshore wind,” said Maryland Energy Administration Director Paul Pinsky.
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) President and CEO Doreen M. Harris said, “Offshore wind is a cornerstone of New York’s clean energy transition that will deliver nine gigawatts by 2035 and grow a high-tech industry that will attract billions in investments and thousands of family-sustaining jobs. This report is the result of significant private-public collaboration and lays out a pathway to cultivate a long-term domestic supply chain here in the U.S.”
The full project summary will be released by the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium in late winter of 2023.
Click here to go directly to the report.
Upcoming Offshore Wind Events
Conference: Jan. 30–Feb. 1, 2023, Houston, TX
Floating Wind Solutions is focused on accelerating the clean energy transition. This 3-day conference will hold discussions on the industrialization and commercialization of floating offshore wind energy, including DOE’s Floating Offshore Wind ReadINess Prize.
Floating Offshore Wind Shot Summit
Conference: Feb. 22–23, 2023, Virtual
This 2-day virtual summit hosted by DOE and others will feature discussions on the Floating Offshore Wind Shot, an ambitious initiative to reduce the coast of floating offshore wind energy by at least 70% by 2035. Speakers will include Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, along with policy makers, experts, community leaders, and innovators. Deep-water areas that require floating platforms are home to two-thirds of America’s offshore wind energy potential—a clean energy resource that is key to meeting the nation’s climate goals. Capturing this vast potential can power millions of American homes and businesses and bring significant economic benefits but will require unprecedented collaboration between federal and state governments, local communities, tribes, and the private sector. This interagency summit will bring together a broad range of parties to affirm a shared vision of wide-scale floating offshore wind energy deployment and dive into the technical, social, equity, and environmental challenges and opportunities it presents.
Conference: Feb. 27–March 1, 2023, Arlington, VA, and Virtual
Let’s talk distributed wind energy! Learn about new technology, services, and business opportunities from industry experts and federal leaders regarding the distributed wind energy industry. Whether you attend in person or virtually, this is not an event to miss for the distributed wind energy community.
