US Five Offshore Wind Projects Can Power 1.75 million Homes: Report

MNRE Proposes to Hold Bids for 7215 MW Offshore Wind in Tamil Nadu

The Biden-Harris administration recently approved the ‘Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind’ (CVOW) commercial project. This is the fifth approval of a commercial-scale, offshore wind energy project under President Biden’s leadership. This announcement supports the administration’s goal of deploying 30 Gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030. Some other projects approved under this are the Vineyard Wind 1, South Fork Wind, Ocean Wind 1, and Revolution Wind projects. The completion of these five projects will reportedly add more than 5GW of clean, renewable energy to our nation’s grid, enough to power more than 1.75 million homes.

Targets Set 

The project is located approximately 23.5 nautical miles offshore Virginia Beach; the CVOW commercial project is the largest yet. This project will provide about 2,600 MW of clean, reliable offshore wind energy and is capable of powering over 900,000 homes. The project is expected to provide about 900 jobs each year during the construction phase and support an estimated 1,100 annual jobs during the operations phase. Thereby generating vital economic development for Virginia’s Hampton Roads area and supporting investments in the Virginia coastal region as a hub for offshore wind development and support.

“The interior department is committed to the administration’s all-of-government approach to the clean energy future, which helps them respond to the climate crisis, lower energy costs, and create good-paying union jobs across the manufacturing, shipbuilding, and construction sectors,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. “Today’s approval of the largest offshore wind project in U.S. history builds on the undeniable momentum we are seeing. Together with the labor community, industry, tribes, and partners from coast to coast, we are aggressively working toward our clean energy goals.”

“Today’s announcement is the result of hard work by the BOEM team and our ongoing conversations with tribes, federal agency partners, state and local leaders, ocean users, industry, and others to help inform the development of this project every step of the way,” said Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Elizabeth Klein. “We look forward to continuing to work together to responsibly develop this clean energy resource and ensure a sustainable future for generations to come.”

“The Biden-Harris administration just greenlit construction of the nation’s fifth massive-scale offshore wind project, growing a new American industry, lowering energy costs, creating good-paying jobs, and tackling the climate crisis,” said White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi. “More progress and economic opportunity are on the horizon as we put to use every tool available to bring offshore wind benefits to American workers and communities nationwide.”

President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda is growing the American economy from the middle out and bottom up—from rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure. This is to drive $500 billion in private sector manufacturing and clean energy investments in the United States, create good-paying jobs, and build a clean energy economy that will combat the climate crisis and make our communities more resilient.

Since the start of the Biden-Harris administration, the Department has approved the nation’s first five commercial-scale offshore wind energy projects. BOEM has held four offshore wind lease auctions totaling almost $5.5 billion in high bids. This included sales offshore New York and the first-ever sales offshore the Pacific and Gulf Coasts. BOEM has also advanced the process to explore additional opportunities for offshore wind energy development in the U.S., in the Gulf of Maine, offshore Oregon, and the U.S. Central Atlantic coast. The Department has also taken steps to evolve its approach to offshore wind to drive towards union-built projects and a domestic-based supply chain. With this achievement, BOEM will remain on track to complete reviews of at least 16 offshore wind energy project plans by 2025, representing more than 27 gigawatts of clean energy.