By Curtis Roberts
When you’re hard about the task creating an industry from scratch, it’s good to pause on occasion and see where you are.
William Pentland provides such a snapshot in his Forbes “Clean Beta” post yesterday about the slow pace of the U.S. offshore wind industry, and its potential momentum. He says,
“While Europe has installed nearly 1,000 wind turbines offshore since Denmark built the world’s first offshore wind farm in 1991, the U.S. has not installed a single offshore wind turbine.
That is likely to change soon.”
William goes on to sketch out the potential from National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) data and includes this encouraging, progress-being-made statement:
“Nearly two dozen offshore wind-power projects representing more than 2,000 MW of capacity are in the planning and permitting stages, mostly in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.”
Good news, indeed. These 2,000 MWs represent 40,000 jobs waiting to join the workforce, according to NREL’s 20-jobs-per-megawatt-produced number in the Untapped Wealth publication.
As the manufacturer of 5 MW offshore wind turbines, AREVA is actively engaged in bringing projects in North America to fruition and delivering on our commitment to build a North America supply chain.
We’ve done it before. AREVA helped launch the European offshore wind industry in the North Sea with the first six pilot offshore wind turbines in the water in October 2009. Our experience building, installing and commissioning offshore wind turbines from our facility in Bremerhaven, Germany, has shown how offshore wind can revitalize a region, drive economic growth, and generate power.
Of the 12 pilot turbines installed, the six 5 MW AREVA Wind turbines have generated 90 GWh of the 120 GWh fed into the grid.
William’s title sums it up nicely, “Turn Baby, Turn – Offshore Wind Power Poised for Major Growth in U.S.,” and AREVA is working hard to help make it happen.
To see how AREVA installs an offshore wind turbine assembly taller than the Washington Monument out in the deep blue sea, click on the image to watch a 2-minute video.
Tags: Offshore Wind, Renewables
