{"id":39280,"date":"2013-06-05T16:26:10","date_gmt":"2013-06-05T15:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/for-first-time-us-to-lease-offshore-wind-blocks\/39280\/"},"modified":"2013-06-05T16:26:10","modified_gmt":"2013-06-05T15:26:10","slug":"for-first-time-us-to-lease-offshore-wind-blocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/for-first-time-us-to-lease-offshore-wind-blocks\/","title":{"rendered":"For First Time, US to Lease Offshore Wind Blocks"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON <\/span>– The U.S. government announced Tuesday that it would be going forward with long-discussed plans to auction federal leases off the Atlantic Ocean coast for the development of offshore wind energy.<\/p>\n

\"\" A seagull flies past wind turbines at Thanet Offshore Wind Farm off the Kent coast in southern England. Offshore wind production is particularly attractive because winds tend to blow harder and more consistently off the coasts. (Photo: Stefan Wermuth\/Reuters) <\/span><\/span>The sales, to take place in late July, will be the first time that federal lands have been offered on a competitive basis for the United States\u2019 nascent offshore wind business. Proponents say the industry has significant potential, but for decades it has lagged far behind the country\u2019s onshore wind sector \u2014 even as offshore usage has strengthened significantly in other countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s announcement is an important milestone in efforts to launch the offshore wind industry in the United States,\u201d Chris Long, manager of offshore wind and siting policy for the American Wind Energy Association, a trade group, told IPS. \u201cOffshore wind energy represents a significant opportunity for our country, and developing this industry will help to create thousands of new jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, the Interior Department has approved nine companies to take part in the auction, which will offer around 165,000 acres in two blocks off the coast of the eastern states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. A third area off the coast of Virginia could be offered for lease later this year.<\/p>\n

According to recent analysis<\/a> by the Department of Energy\u2019s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the initial two blocks will be able to produce a regular supply of around 3,500 megawatts, enough to power around a million U.S. homes.<\/p>\n

Overall, the United States is thought to have around 4,000 gigawatts (or four million megawatts) of offshore wind potential. That\u2019s almost four times the country\u2019s current electricity production of all types.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis leasing announcement is a big deal, a significant move forward on what has been an extensive process to identify appropriate sites and give access to try to build in the water,\u201d Dave Hamilton, the director for clean energy with the Sierra Club, a conservation group, told IPS.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are important steps, but now getting equipment in the water, finding communities or entities to buy the power at the price producers can make it \u2014 that\u2019s all still ahead of this project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Proponents have long noted that offshore wind has particular potential in the United States given that almost four-fifths of the electricity requirement comes from states along the coasts and Great Lakes, and thus windfarms could be positioned fairly near demand centres.<\/p>\n

According to estimates in a recent scientific paper<\/a>, around a third of all U.S. power demand \u2014 or all demand from the East Coast, except during summer \u2014 can be satisfied from offshore wind power along the East Coast alone.<\/p>\n

Strengthened by government subsidies, the U.S. wind energy sector has grown significantly \u2014 albeit belatedly \u2014 in recent years, currently comprising some three percent of the country\u2019s overall power mix. Meanwhile, the offshore sector has lagged far behind, in part due to the significantly higher costs and technicality associated with installing a turbine on water.<\/p>\n

The technology has long existed, however, and many models have already gone through a lengthy process of testing. Just last week, the Energy Department formally announced that a new prototype, a floating turbine in Maine, has been connected to the national electricity grid, the first offshore turbine now operating in the country and the first of seven such experimental projects currently underway.<\/p>\n

The U.S. government has green-lighted at least two smaller East Coast offshore wind projects, but these went forward without a competitive bidding process and are still awaiting regulatory approval. While around a dozen privately financed offshore projects are currently being developed, July\u2019s leasing is being touted as the full opening-up of the new industry to the private sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is good interest in this one, then I think you will have this happening on a consistent basis,\u201d Sally Jewell, the secretary of the interior, told reporters Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t promise that they will be in production in four years, but we don\u2019t want to be a roadblock. The market will dictate, but we certainly don\u2019t want to get in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Picking energy winners\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n

The United States has been falling behind on offshore wind innovation since the early 1990s, when Denmark opened the world\u2019s first offshore wind farm. By today, countries across Europe have constructed some 4,000 megawatts of offshore capacity \u2014 a number that is expected to increase to a whopping 40,000 megawatts by 2020, according to 2011 estimates.<\/p>\n

China, too, has been moving quickly into all types of wind energy production. Beijing has published plans to expand the country\u2019s still burgeoning offshore sector to 30,000 megawatts by 2020.<\/p>\n

Yet when President Barack Obama approved the country\u2019s first offshore power project, in 2010, he came under fire from conservatives, some environmentalists and others concerned about the \u201caesthetic\u201d impact of the project, including powerful Massachusetts lawmakers.<\/p>\n

Yet Tuesday, Ed Markey, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee and currently a top contender to become a Massachusetts senator, praised the new project.<\/p>\n

\u201cOffshore wind is a win for American jobs, for American energy security, and for our environment, and it will start off the coast of New England,\u201d Markey said Tuesday in a statement. \u201cI commend the Interior Department for \u2026 conducting these lease sales in a way that will ensure leases go to companies that are serious about developing new wind energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

In deciding on leases, the government will reportedly take into account whether bidding companies already have agreements in place with utility companies that can purchase the power.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, renewable energy in recent years has become almost inexplicably politicised in the United States, particularly here in Washington. Already, Republican members of Congress have expressed scepticism over the new plan for offshore leasing.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, several conservatives highlighted the perceived discrepancy between President Obama\u2019s advocacy for offshore wind and his hesitancy regarding plans for offshore oil drilling. They also accused him of intervening in the market and \u201cpicking energy industry winners and losers\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpponents of offshore wind projects have taken on some very unusual tactics for people who claim to support economic development and diversified energy options,\u201d the Sierra Club\u2019s Hamilton says.<\/p>\n

He notes that two highly visible funders of conservative causes, oil refinery magnates Charles and David Koch, have been actively opposed to the development of offshore wind production capacity.<\/p>\n

One key focus of this pressure could be on members of Congress, who by the end of the year must decide whether to renew a subsidy \u2014 known as the federal investment tax credit \u2014 considered key for the offshore industry\u2019s attempts to get off the ground.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2013 IPS North America<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on: Common Dreams<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON – The U.S. government announced Tuesday that it would be going forward with long-discussed plans to auction federal leases off the Atlantic Ocean coast for the development of offshore wind energy. A seagull flies past wind turbines at Thanet Offshore Wind Farm off the Kent coast in southern England. Offshore wind production is particularly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-39280","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-breaking-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}