February 28, 2023 — Last week’s inaugural government-led Floating Offshore Wind Shot Summit was expected to be dominated by voices supporting the offshore wind industry and include cheering support for offshore wind, but some in the seafood industry viewed it as nauseatingly frustrating.
The Departments of Energy, Interior, Commerce, and Transportation convened federal, state, Tribal, community, labor, industry, and community leaders, all virtually, to discuss significant progress toward development of floating offshore wind in the United States and decreasing the cost of floating offshore wind — the most expensive type of offshore renewable energy — by more than 70%.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm kicked off the summit and announced efforts to jumpstart West Coast offshore wind transmission planning and research and partnerships.
“We see floating offshore wind as one of the clean energy technologies with the most upside potential for deployment in the coming decades,” Granholm said in a press release. “This Energy Earthshot is about so much more than just adding clean energy to the grid, this is about investing in American innovation and bringing supply chains home. It’s about creating jobs from sea to shining sea, and it’s about making America more energy secure and more energy independent.”