The FINANCIAL -- Wind Powering America
publishes a series maps showing the potential to
generate electricity from offshore wind resources in the United States.
This map complements the map highlighting onshore wind energy potential.
These offshore maps show wind speed detail at 90 meters above the water surface, with a spatial resolution of 200m, for 26 States along the coasts and the Great Lakes. Wind energy potential is broken down by wind speed, water depth, and distance from shore.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory provided an assessment of potential generating capacity from offshore wind, totalling 4,150 gigawatts. At the end of 2009, the Nation's total electric generating capacity was 1,025 GW. The NREL assessment does not consider cost or transmission availability, and assumes all locations meeting certain characteristics will be available for offshore wind development.
The development of this assessment evolved over multiple stages as new regional assessments became available, new validation data were obtained, and better modeling capabilities were implemented. It is expected that the current assessment will continue to be periodically updated as additional offshore mapping projects are finished along the Atlantic coast of Florida, the Gulf coast, the Pacific coast, and Alaska.
Offshore winds are attractive as a power source as they are typically both stronger and steadier than winds onshore. Offshore wind turbines, however, are costlier, take longer to build, and are more challenging to maintain. The United States does not currently have any operating, utility-scale offshore wind capacity, although some projects are in the planning stages.
Factors other than wind resource availability, including the future availability of subsidies for wind generation, the cost of natural gas and other competing technologies, and issues surrounding the allocation of costs for transmission projects that could connect wind-rich regions with major load centers, will likely play a dominant role in determining the future use of wind power.
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