The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
‘Made in U.S.A.’ push clouds offshore wind projects
States hoping to create own windmill industry, but it may prove costly.
With state officials eyeing $56 billion of wind farm projects off the U.S. coastline, developers are worried that the turbines will need to be stamped with a big “Made in the U.S.A.”
Each structure is huge — almost half the height of the Empire State Building. Most are constructed in Europe, at least for now. As states in the Northeast jump into wind power, they’re betting they can create their own windmill industry. It will be a costly but perhaps necessary move, especially as President Donald Trump pushes for more factory jobs and picks fights with those making parts abroad.
“There’s no way of hiding that every single state, be it here in the U.S. or be it countries in Europe, is insisting on everything sort of being local,” said Henrik Poulsen, chief executive officer of Orsted, the Danish company that is the world’s largest offshore-wind developer. “It is an equation that’s very difficult to solve without the whole technology becoming much
more expensive.”
Initially, the cost of offshore wind farms will be 45 percent more than those built in Europe, partly because much of the equipment will have to be imported, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The viability of any new projects will require long-term supply agreements that guarantee developers can sell their power at above-market rates.
Windmills aren’t new for Americans,
who get more electricity from the structures than any country except China, which is investing heavily. But almost all of the capacity is on land, with smaller turbines than those at sea. Building 15 miles or more offshore is appealing because breezes are stronger and more uniform, and there are no neighbors to oppose structures with rotors that at their highest are almost 600 feet above the surface of the ocean.
Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Maryland have proposed offshore projects primarily to meet targets for reduced pollution from fossil-fuel power plants. The states are willing to offer incentives they hope will expand supplies of renewable electricity and help spur local job growth.
Eventually, the cost of building offshore should fall, especially if domestic manufacturing takes off. In Europe, where government support helped fund offshore windmills and a domestic manufacturing industry over two decades, offshore capacity for producing electricity almost quadrupled from 2010 to 2016.
The cost of building some of the biggest offshore wind projects in Europe has been cut by more than half in the past decade, though they remain more expensive to build than solar-power and onshore-wind plants.
“The critical mass in the U.S. is not there yet,” said Adam Thomsen, head of U.S. market entry for MHI Vestas Offshore Wind, a Denmark-based joint venture between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Vestas Wind Systems that wants to expand into the American market. “We believe in the long-term potential.”