October 20, 2021 — The Biden administration has announced ambitious plans to scale up leasing for offshore wind energy projects along the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts. In an announcement released on Oct. 13, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Interior stated that it will “use the best available science as well as knowledge from ocean users and other stakeholders to minimize conflict with existing uses and marine life.” University of Massachusetts Boston public policy scholar David W. Cash, who worked at senior levels in state government for a decade, describes how this process works.
Why does the Biden administration want to build so much wind power at sea?
President Joe Biden has set a goal for the U.S. to achieve net-zero emissions economywide by 2050. That will require an unprecedented expansion of renewable energy to replace fossil fuels that release climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that U.S. offshore wind resources could provide over 2,000 gigawatts of generating capacity – nearly twice as much electricity as the nation uses every year. For context, the capacity of a large fossil fuel or nuclear power plant is about 1 gigawatt.
The Biden administration aims to have 30 gigawatts of offshore wind operating by 2030. Today the U.S. has a fraction of that – just 42 megawatts of offshore wind from five turbines off Rhode Island and two off Virginia. (A gigawatt is 1,000 megawatts.)
Read the full story at The Conversation