Multiple reports highlight the need for strategic planning and investment in U.S. offshore wind energy resources. The U.S. could waste as much as $20 billion if it fails to strategically plan how to efficiently integrate offshore wind into the larger electrical grid, warns a new Brattle report commissioned by several climate and clean energy-focused organizations.
That report follows a paper, released Monday by the Business Network for Offshore Wind and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, finding the U.S. must invest $22.4 billion in building at least 34 new manufacturing facilities to meet the Biden administration goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030. The offshore wind sector has the potential to create tens of thousands of union jobs in the manufacturing and construction sectors. “With that job, I made enough money to buy my first home,” Maximo Decaba, who helped paint the wind turbines at the Block Island Wind Farm off Rhode Island, told NPR. “It’s time we get off fossil fuels, and it’s time people make an honest living with green energy.” (Planning: TIME; Required investment: Utility Dive, Renewable Energy Mag; Jobs: NPR)