The chief executive of an American trade body is urging for “more federal government regulatory certainty” to ensure the US offshore wind industry capitalises on growth opportunities.
Business Network for Offshore Wind (BNOW) chief executive and president Liz Burdock said: “The US has to forge ahead or lose ground.
“The states are doing everything they can to make offshore wind happen. Now it’s up to the federal government to act now, and provide industry with regulatory certainty. We’re at a critical moment, and if we blow it we won’t catch up.”
Burdock was speaking at a BNOW-sponsored symposium in North Carolina.
Referring to the International Energy Agency’s Offshore Wind Outlook 2019 report, Burdock said other countries are “sprinting ahead in offshore wind energy at the moment”, with the US risking being “left behind” in an industry worth $1tn in the next 20 years.
According to the IEA report the offshore industry in Europe slated to grow 6-fold to 9-fold over the next 20 years, according to the report, and possibly even more if offshore-generated electricity is used to create hydrogen fuel.
China will become the country with the most offshore wind generation within five years, and its offshore industry is expected to grow 25-fold or more over 20 years.
In contrast, Burdock said the US industry “awaits the go-ahead from regulators as well as more grid infrastructure.”
On the upside, she added, “The United States has a pipeline that exceeds Europe’s present deployment. Once the offshore wind supply chain is underway and truly producing in the USA, we have the opportunity to supply and export to this trillion-dollar market,” she added.