We recently shared how the US is making progress towards its first utility-scale offshore wind farm in Massachusetts. Now, the country is ramping up wind power even further with the announcement of a New Wind Energy Area between Long Island and the New Jersey coast.
The new project is part of a larger commitment from the Department of the Interior to deploy enough offshore windmills to power millions of American homes with 30 gigawatts of wind energy by 2030. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced that the department plans to move forward with environmental impact reports for both the new wind area and another project, Ocean Wind, off the New Jersey coast.
This new wind power target is expected to create 44,000 new jobs with even more anticipated as a result of increased economic activity in nearby communities.
The New Wind Energy Area will be available for lease to offshore wind companies and the federal government will also make $3 billion in funding available through its loan guarantee program to incentivize wind energy investment.
Whereas onshore wind energy accounted for eight percent of the US’ energy production in 2020, offshore wind development has been slow. Renewable energy advocates hope these new policies will speed up the adoption of offshore infrastructure and help the US achieve its goal of zeroing out greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector by 2035.
