The US Government Decides to Kickstart Offshore Wind Energy Development

The development of wind power in the United States has been steady for the most part over the last several years. With many states boasting fairly significant onshore wind farms, one area of interest that seems to have some trouble is the development of offshore wind power. In order to perhaps help in furthering the development of offshore wind power, the United States appears to be ready on a federal level to make it seem worthwhile to companies looking to expand out over the ocean.

A few days ago, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, along with the Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, announced that both the Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior intended to begin a program that would offer a series of incentives and ways to develop offshore wind power in the United States. Chief among the incentives is the decision to offer funding up to $50.5 million for the development of offshore wind in areas of the Atlantic that are being described as "high priority" for offshore power. The funding will be used over the course of five years alongside the other programs the government has in mind.

Among the new programs that government has planned, the development of new wind turbine technology and next generation drive trains are chief among them. It is hoped that by offering over $32 million in funding over the next several years that companies will be able to develop the best possible offshore wind turbine designs in order to gain the maximum benefit from each individual turbine once in place. The government also intends to begin investigating the economic impact of the further development of the offshore wind energy industry in order to determine how to best streamline the process.

Aside from the development of technology, the government is also planning on working with the "high priority" areas of the Atlantic as well as identifying new areas where offshore wind power would be most beneficial. The initial plan is to investigate the areas of the Atlantic off the coast of New England, especially near Massachusetts and Rhode Island, before performing similar studies off the coast of states like North Carolina. So far, areas off the coast of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia have already been approved for offshore wind farms.

With this new plan in place, hopefully the United States can make some serious headway in the development of offshore wind power.

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