Offshore wind farms connected by an underwater power grid for transmission could revolutionize East Coast energy

Sturdy offshore winds have the potential to provide coastlines with massive, consistent flows of clean electricity. One examine estimates offshore wind farms may meet 11 times the projected global electricity demand in 2040.

The U.S. East Coast is a perfect location to seize this energy, however there’s an issue: getting electrical energy from ocean wind farms to the cities and cities that want it.

Whereas everybody needs dependable electrical energy of their houses and companies, few assist the development of the transmission traces essential to get it there. This has at all times been an issue, each in the U.S. and internationallyhowever it’s turning into a good larger problem as nations speed toward net-zero carbon energy systems that can use extra electrical energy.

The U.S. Division of Power and 10 states within the Northeast States Collaborative on Interregional Transmission are engaged on a doubtlessly transformative answer: plans for an offshore electric power grid.

On the core of this grid can be spine transmission traces off the East Coast, from North Carolina to Maine, the place dozens of offshore wind initiatives are already within the pipeline.

The plans envision it supporting not less than 85 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2050—near the U.S. goal of 110 GW of put in wind energy by mid-century, sufficient to energy 40 million houses and up from 0.2 GW right this moment. The Division of Power and the Northeast States Collaborative formalized their targets in July 2024 via a multistate memorandum of understanding.

Rising analysis from the Department of Energythe analysis firm Brattle and other groups means that an offshore electrical energy grid may mitigate key challenges to constructing new transmission traces on land and scale back the prices of offshore wind energy.

Chopping prices can be welcome information—offshore wind venture prices rose as much as 50% from 2021 to 2023. Whereas a number of the underlying causes have subsided, such as inflation and global supply chain disruptions, interest rates remain highand the business remains to be looking for its footing within the U.S.

What’s an offshore electrical energy grid?

Immediately’s offshore wind initiatives use a point-to-point, or radial designthe place every offshore wind farm is individually linked to the onshore grid.

This methodology works if a area has only some initiatives, however it rapidly turns into costlier because of the cabling and different infrastructure. Its traces are additionally disruptive to communities and marine life. And it requires extra expensive onshore grid upgrades.

Coordinated offshore transmission can keep away from a lot of these prices with what the Division of Power calls “meshed” or “backbone” designs.

Moderately than particular person connections to land, many offshore wind farms can be linked to a shared transmission line, which might hook up with the onshore grid via strategically positioned “points of interconnection.” This fashion, electrical energy produced by an offshore wind farm can be transmitted to the place it’s most wanted, up and down the East Coast.

Even higher, electrical energy generated onshore may be transmitted via these shared traces to maneuver vitality to the place it’s wanted. This might enhance the resilience of energy grids and scale back the necessity for brand spanking new transmission traces over land, which have been notoriously difficult to gain approval forparticularly on the East Coast.

Coordinated offshore transmission was a part of early U.S. discussions on offshore wind planning and growth. Within the late 2000s when Google and partners first proposed the Atlantic Wind Connection, an offshore transmission projectthe advantages in each offshore renewables and the complete vitality system have been intriguing. On the time, the U.S. had only one utility-scale offshore wind venture within the pipeline, and it ultimately failed.

Immediately, the U.S. has 53 GW of offshore wind projects being deliberate or developed. As energyresearchers, webelieve coordinated offshore transmission is vital for the business to succeed at scale.

Offshore grid may get monetary savings, scale back impacts

By enabling energy from offshore wind farms and onshore electrical energy mills to journey to extra locations, coordinated transmission can improve grid reliability and allow electrical energy to get to the place it’s most wanted. This reduces the necessity for costlier and infrequently extra polluting energy vegetation.

A 2024 report from the National Renewable Energy Lab discovered the advantages of a coordinated design are practically thrice larger than the prices when put next with an ordinary point-to-point design.

Research from Europe, the U.K. and Brattle have pointed to extra advantages, together with decreasing planet-warming carbon emissions, chopping the variety of beach crossings by a 3rd and decreasing the miles of transmission cables wanted by 35% to 60%.

Within the U.S., offshore transmission traces can be virtually completely in federal waters, doubtlessly avoiding most of the conflicts related to onshore initiatives, although it might nonetheless face challenges.

Challenges and subsequent steps

Constructing an offshore grid would require some vital adjustments.

First is altering authorities incentives. The federal funding tax credit score for offshore wind, which covers not less than 30% of the upfront capital price of a project, does not currently help pay for coordinated transmission designs.

Second, planning must take everybody’s considerations under consideration from the start. Whereas the general advantages of coordinated transmission designs outweigh overall costswho receives the advantages and who bears the prices issues. For instance, costlier energy mills may earn much less, and a few communities feel threatened by offshore development.

Third, better coordination will likely be wanted amongst everybody concerned to dispatch energy to and from the regional grids. The Federal Power Regulatory Fee’s latest Order 1920requiring energy suppliers to plan for future wants, could function a blueprint, however it doesn’t apply to interregional initiatives, reminiscent of an offshore transmission spine connecting over a dozen states throughout three areas.

The U.S. reached an vital milestone in March 2024 with the completion of South Fork Wind, the nation’s first utility-scale wind farmbringing U.S. offshore wind energy capability to almost 200 megawatts. Eight extra initiatives are underneath development or accredited for development. As soon as constructed, they’d deliver put in capability to over 13 gigawattsroughly the identical as three dozen coal-fired power plants.

An offshore transmission spine may assist offshore wind growth and the East Coast’s energy wants for generations to come back.

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