By Rikki Stancich

At the end of last month, UK Trade & Investment and marine technology and engineering firm Global Marine Systems, brought together an elite group of industry and policy experts to discuss best practices in the offshore wind sector to help accelerate the development of a viable US offshore wind industry.

The aim was to bring together experts from Europe and the US to hash out real, practical ways to diminish perceived risk and encourage investment.

Wind Energy Update speaks to Global Marine System's director of corporate strategy, Joel Whitman to learn more about the hurdles faced by US offshore wind developers and how these can be surmounted.

Wind Energy Update: Why in your view has the US been slow to get behind offshore wind compared to Europe?

Joel Whitman: Right now, we are probably at the same place as the UK was at the beginning of Round 1, whereby most of the projects going into the water over the next 21 months will be pilot scale.

The reason the US has been slower is primarily because the it is so big into onshore wind –the market is significant, given the vast tracts of land and the available wind resource. The offshore idea – particularly permitting, building a new industry, building out the supply chain, is quite unique.

The big issue with offshore wind is breaking new ground. There are half a dozen projects from Delaware to Massachusetts, but these are still grappling with the logistics of state requirements for the public utility corporations, getting PPAs signed, and designing the transmission environment.

Then there are the issues of how the government leases the land and how to get the export cable through state waters.

These projects are breaking ground in an entirely new industry and so they are breaking ground on policy and permitting.

In the Great Lakes there are 4-5 projects, all of which are running into similar issues, simply because there is no clear legal and policy infrastructure in place.

Wind Energy Update: What is the main issue with export cables passing through federal and state waters and to what extent is this delaying projects?

Joel Whitman: Each state has sovereignty up to three miles offshore. Beyond three miles you enter into federal waters, which is under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM), the lead bureau for organising permitting.

The fact is that most wind farms will be located in federal waters. This leads to a whole slew of permitting and policy issues for these offshore wind projects. Then the developers are faced with getting the power to land via an export cable that passes through state waters. So in order to bring the cable onshore, the project must comply with state jurisdiction.

Wind Energy Update: Why are investors so wary of offshore wind projects in the US and what can be done to reduce this perceived risk?

Joel Whitman: The number one issue that needs to be addressed right now is getting a clear permitting structure in place. Investors want guaranteed long-term infrastructure and for this to happen, federal and state permitting need to work in concert. A stable political and legal framework drives a logical investment path.

A few months ago the mid-Atlantic state governors announced their decision to work together to build a common infrastructure. From a government policy perspective, this is the right way to go.

Ontario, New York state and Ohio are at the forefront of thinking in regional terms instead of taking a state-by-state approach.

Wind Energy Update: How important is offshore wind in the US, in light of the US’ abundant onshore resource and site availability?

Joel Whitman: Offshore wind is regionally critical; all the projects off the Atlantic coast are within proximity to huge population centres.

While the US may have an abundant onshore resource, wind in Dakota is not easily accessible to those here in Boston. The option is to have wind delivered through a massive and costly transmission infrastructure, or to build it locally, offshore.

Permitting for overland high voltage transmission is very difficult to obtain, so the alternative is to put the cables offshore. In the case of the East Coast, offshore wind is a viable alternative - the likelihood of getting permits for offshore wind is higher than it would be for getting permits to build out more overland high voltage transmission.

Wind Energy Update: The BLM is rolling out a programmatic EIS to fast-track solar projects in the US. Is it possible that the BOEMRE would do something similar for offshore wind?

Joel Whitman: While I cannot speak on behalf of BOEMRE, there is a real desire for investors and infrastructure planners to have an idea of what the permitting landscape will look like.

I haven’t met a single person that doesn’t want [offshore wind] to be done as quickly as possible. 

To respond to this article, please write to the editor: Rikki Stancich