Plans for U.S. Wind Farms Run Into Headwinds As Market Surges
From FOX Business
After two decades spinning power from the gusts that sweep Europe’s North Sea, the offshore wind industry is finally turning to the U.S. A big hurdle: getting its giant turbines to American waters.
No one in the U.S. currently makes turbine towers sizable enough for use in deep waters — one of the many challenges impeding the buildup of offshore wind on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
The first offshore wind installation in the U.S., a $300 million, 30-megawatt project off Rhode Island, began turning six months ago. Companies including Denmark’s Dong Energy AS, Norway’s Statoil ASA and Spain’s Iberdrola SA are now pursuing more than a dozen projects that would dwarf it.
But the Block Island wind farm in the U.S. currently generates power for 24.4 cents per kilowatt-hour, while offshore wind projects in Europe can come in well under 10 cents per kilowatt-hour. Developers are optimistic that, as occurred in Europe, prices will go down as more projects begin and a supplier network takes shape in the U.S.
