The much-anticipated Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard recently withdrew its application for federal approval the same week it announced it would use GE Haliade-X turbines in first-phase development. Such government red tape can cause unexpected delays. ports to use ships built in, with ownership based in, and operated from the United States. The Jones Act requires goods passing between U.S. Projects must plan how to limit environmental impacts on surroundings and on local wildlife, as well as how to comply with acts like the Rivers and Harbors Act prohibiting obstruction or alteration of navigable waters without a permit.Īdditionally, the Jones Act may limit turbine size or project timing due to a short supply of American vessels available to move components from port to project location. Army Corps of Engineers and the Fish and Wildlife Service, is one factor. government agencies, including the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Several factors play into this difference between EU and U.S. Roughly 30 other projects remain in various forms of development. A small pilot project has become active off the coast of Virginia. Yet two decades after that first offshore project in Denmark, Europe had eight operational offshore wind farms while the United States had none.Īs late as 2020, Rhode Island’s Block Island Wind Farm was still the United States’ only commercial operating offshore wind installation, which came online in 2016. coasts could generate four-times the electricity the country needs. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has estimated that the winds off U.S. Europe’s first offshore wind installation, Denmark’s Vindeby, came online in 1991 with a capacity of 4.9 MW. adoption of offshore wind technology has been slow compared to European counterparts. By Marla Keene, technology writer, AX Control

Floating foundation offshore wind