High-quality wind resources (i.e. the speed and consistency of wind blowing offshore) across the nation expand the available deployment and associated economic opportunity of offshore wind. Offshore wind reduces the burden of infrastructure development on land, and shifts it to the sea, diversifying the risk of infrastructure development to a wider area. As offshore wind deployment increases, the area directly impacted by renewable energy infrastructure decreases relative to the Baseline scenario. Because of the high power density of offshore wind resources, the U.S. could generate more clean power on a smaller footprint at sea.
Offshore Wind Can Help the U.S. Achieve 100% Clean Electricity
Achieving 100% clean electricity will require a vast build-out of new renewable energy resources, both on land and at sea. To date, the U.S. has deployed over 220 GW of wind and solar, with a leased area of approximately 7.1 million acres of land. The U.S. has vast, untapped potential to generate clean power off its coast. As offshore wind deployment increases, this direct impact area decreases overall. In the High Ambition scenario, the U.S. is able to reduce the direct land and sea impacts by nearly 6 million acres.
The turbine impact area (including turbines, foundations, and associated wake and scour effects) of offshore wind in the High Ambition scenario, relative to the total lease area, the total available area in the North Sea, the U.S. Technical Potential Zone (4100 GW), the contiguous U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, and the Continental U.S., 2050.
