There are nearly 53 gigawatts of offshore wind projects in the operational, development and planning stages in the United States. If all the projects currently being developed and planned are built, they will power more than 18 million U.S. homes.

As of May 2023, the installed offshore wind capacity in the United States reached 52,687 MW, including two operating offshore wind farms totaling 42 MW, more than 40 projects under construction totaling 47,606 MW, and 5,039 MW in the planning stage. potential capacity.

That’s according to analysis by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) recently released Offshore Wind Market Report: 2023 Edition.

NREL also highlighted key developments in the U.S. offshore wind market from January 2022 to May 2023, including the launch of three new lease areas in the Gulf of Mexico and $2.7 billion (approximately €2.55 billion) of investment in the U.S. offshore wind industry through 2022 , there will be significant changes in ports, ships, supply chains and transmission areas.

Additionally, state-level procurement activities and policies are driving continued momentum in the country’s offshore wind industry, with multiple states aiming to install a total of 42,730 MW of offshore wind capacity by 2040.

NREL also noted that floating offshore wind has gained more attention. In this regard, the report cites the first-ever commercial floating wind lease sales off the California coast as one of the key developments, alongside the U.S. government’s announcement of floating offshore wind projects that aim to move the U.S. to 70% by 2035 by reducing floating wind costs. % of floating offshore wind power deployment, the installed capacity will reach 15 GW.

NREL's analysis also found that the market has become more volatile over the past year, with inflation, interest rates and supply chain uncertainty leading to higher project costs.

The Inflation Reduction Act of August 2022 may provide some relief to keep projects profitable, as it provides tax credit incentives for investing in offshore wind energy and domestic supply chains, while also potentially mitigating rising costs due to inflation adverse effects. Supply chain constraints and interest rates. Global installed capacity could reach 380-394 GW by 2032, a six-fold increase over the next decade. The report also said that despite current large-scale economic challenges, the growth of the US market is likely to be in line with expected global market growth. . As for the economic challenges facing first-generation commercial projects, these challenges could severely hinder labor and manufacturing growth.

Going forward, NREL said that continued market growth will be driven by broad federal and state support for commercial leasing, energy planning goals, procurement policies, offtake agreements, and the development of U.S. jobs and domestic supply chains.

“Despite recent market uncertainty, the pipeline of fixed and floating offshore wind projects continues to grow,” said Walt Musial, NREL offshore wind expert and lead author of the report. “With the first major projects coming in next year commercial operation, we may see offshore wind power start to make a significant contribution to reducing the carbon emissions of electricity supply." Editor/Xu Shengpeng