Why one company sees great potential in the U.S. offshore wind market
DONG Energy has been a power innovator in Europe for decades and is now looking to make moves in the United States. The utility -- who surpassed 3 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity just last week -- is looking to enter the U.S. offshore wind market.
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DONG Energy's Anholt Offshore Wind Farm. Credit: DONG Energy |
"We're a world leader in offshore wind, with our first project installed 25 years ago and still spinning," Thomas Brostrøm, head of Markets & Pipeline at DONG Energy Wind Power, said at American Wind Energy Association's (AWEA) WINDPOWER 2015 Conference. "We're aiming for 6.5 gigawatts (GW) by 2020 and we're almost there -- we have one-third of all the offshore wind in the world."
In April, DONG Energy signed an agreement to take over RES Americas Developments Inc.'s (RES) more than 1,000-megawatt (MW) development project rights off the coast of Massachusetts. RES had secured the rights to two leases from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in January.
"The U.S. is an interesting market for offshore wind with the potential to become a significant area for future development," said Samuel Leupold, executive vice president of Wind Power with DONG Energy, said at the announcement in April. "We already have a number of post-2020 projects in our pipeline in North-Western Europe that we will continue to develop. With the takeover of the offshore wind development project in the US, we will broaden our geographical scope and follow the market potential outside of our current footprint."
Leupold continued, "The site conditions are quite similar to those we currently work with in North-Western Europe which means that the project could be developed using well-known technology and logistics."
Although the offshore wind market in the United States has many regulatory obstacles, Brostrøm said that there is also a lot of potential off the East Coast -- including good wind speeds and water depths. He also cited the efforts by BOEM to encourage wind development.
What is expected to become the first offshore wind farm in the United States -- the Deepwater Wind Block Island Wind Farm -- has broken ground, potentially paving the way for future offshore wind.
"I think it's what we need right now," Doug Pfeister with Renewable Consulting Group, a firm supporting the global renewable energy sector, said at WINDPOWER 2015. "There have been questions about offshore wind in the U.S., and the first demonstration project is going to answer lot of those questions."
He added, "Given the good wind resource, good water depths, and access to ports that is available, Block Island should have a catalytic effect."
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