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New Federal Government Study Concludes U.S. Lags in Offshore Wind
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10.08.2010
Federal renewable energy researchers have concluded that while the United States leads the world in installed land-based wind energy capacity, it is substantially behind Europe and China in developing off-shore wind capacity, according to Preti Flaherty attorneys Drew Landry and Steven Hudson. Landry and Hudson, members of Preti's Energy and Climate Strategy Groups, have reviewed the recently released National Renewable Energy Laboratory study of off-shore wind opportunities and barriers. They have worked on numerous energy development projects and have been active on state, regional and national energy policy for several years.
"While the report points out that Europe has installed 2,300 MW of offshore wind, and even China has installed more than 100 MW," stated Hudson, "it notes that the US has no such capacity yet". Hudson further commented that the national report cited New England as having more than 10% of the nation's deep-water offshore wind resources, saying "it's pretty clear that its all in the Gulf of Maine, as the region's deep-water resource is greater than the total resource in our shallow and transitional waters."
"The challenge will be to fund technology development to overcome size limitations and distance constraints", said Landry, citing the report's findings that capital costs that are twice as high as land-based systems. "While these limitations can be partially offset by higher capacity factors off-shore", he noted, "larger turbine and blade designs are also needed in order to make this resource commercially available."
Landry and Hudson are available for additional reaction and comment on this report as well as on renewable energy policy in general. They may be reached at alandry@preti.com or shudson@preti.com.