Elizabeth Barminski / Business Network for Offshore Wind
The Northeast Wind Resource Center (NWRC) published three analytical reports on November 2nd as part of the Roadmap for Multi-State Cooperation on Offshore Wind Development. The NWRC is a collaboration between Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island working on creating a regional offshore wind roadmap funded by a DOE grant awarded to NYSERDA in 2015. Over the past month, the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) has hosted 2 webinars moderated by Val Stori, Clean Energy State Alliance, featuring presentations from the authors the reports.
This is one of several reports available from NWRC.
Doreen Harris, NYSERDA, presented an overview of the Roadmap for Multi-State Cooperation on Offshore Wind Development coordinated by the Clean Energy States Alliance with participation from NYSERDA, MassCEC, Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, and Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources. The New York Offshore Wind Master Plan outlines the state’s commitment to developing 2,400 MW of offshore wind power by 2030. Massachusetts Governor Baker signed offshore wind legislation in August 2016 required utilities to solicit 1,600 MW OSW between 2017-2027. In Rhode Island, research from the Block Island Wind Farm was presented at the Southern New England Offshore Wind Energy Science Forum and the Department of Environmental Management is active in the regional offshore wind projects.
The Northeast Offshore Wind Regional Market Characterization report was presented by Bob Grace and Jordan Shoesmith from Sustainable Energy Advantage. The objective of the report was to develop an estimated range of potential offshore wind deployment by 2030 in the Northeast region. The report focused on four areas: OSW Development Potential and Constraints, Potential Demand for OSW – Market Factors, Potential Demand for OSW – State & Regional Policies and Plans, and Market Assessment. The results of the report are demonstrated in Regional OSW Deployment Trajectories for both a high and low regional offshore wind deployment by 2030. The researchers studied three analytical components of the trajectories: OSW Characteristics, Electric System and Market Components, and State and Regional Policies and Plans. Within each component, major factors were analyzed to identify the constraining factors of the component. The data from the components was combined to create the high and low Regional OSW Deployment Trajectories with a range from 4,030 MW to 7,700 MW by 2030.
The U.S. Job Creation in Offshore Wind report was presented by Alun Roberts from BVG Associates. The purpose of the report is to quantify the job impacts of offshore wind development in the Northeast by 2030 based on both a 4GW and 8GW market. To estimate the total number of offshore wind jobs the researchers isolated the payroll which accounts for 40% of the cost of an offshore wind farm. The report shows the total job creation from each element of the supply chain resulting in a maximum of 499,070 jobs in an 8-GW market and 248,580 jobs in a 4GW market through 2030. The researchers then analyzed the probability of US jobs for each element of the supply chain – demonstrating that the 8GW market scenario will provide a medium probability of the US delivering all parts of the offshore wind supply chain compared to the low probability in the 4GW market scenario.
The Roadmap for Multi-State Cooperation on Offshore Wind Development report provides an important analysis of the current U.S. offshore wind market and the potential of the industry in the near future.
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