Six governors have called for US President Joe Biden to provide additional support for the US’s struggling offshore wind projects.
The letter, signed by Governors Ned Lamont of Connecticut, Wes Moore of Maryland, Maura Healey of Massachusetts, Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Kathy Hochul of New York and Dan McKee of Rhode Island, warned that, without federal intervention, the country’s offshore wind projects are at risk of failing.
The six states are the primary drivers of offshore wind developments in the US, with the vast majority of planned projects sited off their coasts.
“Inflationary pressures, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the lingering supply chain disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have created extraordinary economic challenges that threaten to reverse these offshore wind gains.
“Instead of continued price declines, offshore wind faces cost increases in orders of magnitude that threaten States’ ability to make purchasing decisions. These pressures are affecting not only procurements of new offshore wind but, critically, previously procured projects already in the pipeline.”
The letter set out three actions that the Biden administration could take to support the US offshore wind industry.
It said that the Federal Government should update the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA’s) tax credit so that offshore wind farms, including near-term projects, are fully eligible for federal clean energy tax credits.
The letter also called for establishing a programme to share revenue from offshore wind projects with the states to reduce the burden on ratepayers and reduce costs for developers.
Finally, the governors asked for permitting processes to be sped up to avoid unnecessary cost increases and unlock the full potential of the US clean energy economy.