USA Releases Strategy to Deploy 110+ GW of Offshore Wind by 2050

March 30, 2023, by Adnan Durakovic

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has released its Offshore Wind Energy Strategy, a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive summary of the Department’s efforts to meet the goal to deploy 30 GW of offshore wind energy by 2030 and set the nation on a pathway to 110 GW or more by 2050.

Deploying 30 GW of offshore wind would provide enough power for 10 million homes, support 77,000 jobs, and spur USD 12 billion per year in direct private investment.

The Department-wide strategy, Advancing Offshore Wind Energy in the United States, U.S. Department of Energy Strategic Contributions Toward 30 Gigawatts and Beyond, outlines how DOE will support the Biden-Harris Administration’s whole-of-government approach to accelerate the deployment of offshore wind in support of achieving a carbon-free electricity sector by 2035.

”The transformative potential of offshore wind energy is critical to achieving President Biden’s bold clean energy goals,” said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.

”As our Offshore Wind Energy Strategy shows, we’re leveraging all resources across our department to harness this clean and reliable American energy source, which will create tens of thousands of good-paying, union jobs and revitalize coastal communities.”

There are currently 40 GW of offshore wind in various stages of development in the USA, which suggests the potential for substantial expansion.

The strategy categorizes DOE’s offshore wind efforts into four pillars:

NOW: Lower costs from USD 73 per megawatt-hour (MWh) to USD 51 per MWh by 2030, develop a domestic supply chain, and inform sustainable, just deployment of fixed-bottom offshore wind.
FORWARD: Achieve the Floating Offshore Wind Shot goal of reducing cost by over 70 per cent to USD 45/MWh by 2035, establish US leadership in floating offshore wind design and manufacturing, and inform sustainable, just deployment of floating offshore wind.
CONNECT: Enable reliable and resilient transmission solutions for large-scale offshore wind deployment.
TRANSFORM: Expand offshore wind co-generation technologies for widespread electrification and decarbonization.

Collectively these four pillars seek to support offshore wind development in a manner that is economic, just, and environmentally sustainable, DOE said.

The DOE Offshore Wind Strategy is said to help connect work happening at WETO and across 15 other DOE offices with specific roles in achieving the Biden-Harris Administration’s offshore wind goals and continuing America’s transition to a clean energy economy.