North Carolina will work with Maryland, Virginia to grow offshore wind industry
An agreement announced Thursday could help North Carolina turn winds over the Atlantic Ocean into electricity sooner, according to an industry official.
North Carolina will join Maryland and Virginia in the “Southeast and Mid-Atlantic Regional Transformative Partnership for Offshore Wind Energy Resources,” which they are calling SMART-POWER for short. Unlike those states, North Carolina doesn’t have legislative mandates or executive orders with targets for offshore wind production, much less actual turbines in the water like Virginia.
The new partnership means North Carolina can apply the lessons already learned in nearby states, said Katharine Kollins, president of the Southeastern Wind Coalition, a nonprofit that advocates for the growth of wind energy.
“North Carolina has been trying to get traction within the wind industry for a while, and some of these states farther north are further along in the process,” Kollins told The News & Observer.
The pact is intended to help the states develop supply chains for offshore wind, help create standard regulations to help developers and promote the region as a “hub” for the industry. In announcing the agreement, N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper also touted it as part of the state’s efforts to fight climate change.
“Offshore wind development combined with our strong solar capacity will bring more high paying, clean energy jobs to North Carolina while we continue to ramp up our fight against climate change,” Cooper said.
Part of the reason offshore wind development hasn’t taken off in the United States is that the huge towers, blades and power cells are manufactured overseas. Agreements like Thursday’s could help companies find somewhere on the Atlantic coastline to set up shop and boost the industry, Kollins said.
“If we can get states to work together in identifying where optimal placement for a specific component manufacturer will be, I do think that will have a measurable effect on the industry. Manufacturers have been asking for this forever,” Kollins said.
For instance, Dominion and Ørsted, an offshore wind company, are partnering on the first turbines built in U.S. federal waters, two structures about 27 miles off the Virginia coast. Once the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completes a final review, the turbines will be able to power about 12,000 homes, according to Dominion.
To build the turbines, Dominion said Ørsted shipped steel pilings and other parts from Germany and Denmark.
When it is fully built out, the Virginia project is expected to generate 2,600 megawatts or enough power for 660,000 homes.
Possibly complicating the expansion of wind energy off of North Carolina’s coast is a 10-year offshore energy moratorium signed by President Donald Trump. Starting in 2022, the executive order bans development off of the coasts of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Environmentalists celebrated the order in September for temporarily preventing oil and natural gas development off of North Carolina’s coast, but the Department of the Interior has since said the stance extends to offshore wind development as well.
With the moratorium not going into effect until 2022, Kollins said she hopes that stance changes or lawmakers find another way to move wind projects forward.
“I’m disappointed in Interior’s interpretation of that memorandum and hopeful that we will find ways to lease new areas,” Kollins said.
David Kelly, the Environmental Defense Fund’s senior manager for North Carolina political affairs, praised Cooper, Virgina Gov. Ralph Northam and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, noting the bipartisan nature of the agreement. Cooper and Northam are Democrats, Hogan is a Republican.
“These governors are leading their states in realizing the economic potential inherent in the transition to a more modern, cleaner and healthier energy system,” Kelly said.
Offshore wind efforts underway
The federal government has identified three potential areas for leasing off North Carolina’s coast, two by Wilmington and one off of Kitty Hawk. In 2017, Avangrid Renewables leased a 200-square-mile part of the Kitty Hawk site, about 27.6 miles from Corolla.
Avangrid announced in July that it had moved a scientific buoy to the lease area to collect wind and ocean information that will further inform the construction of the turbines. Once the project is built, Avangrid projects it will have a capacity of 2,500 megawatts, enough to power 700,000 homes.
Like other renewable companies, Avangrid praised Thursday’s announcement. In an email to The News & Observer, Morgan Pitts, a spokesman, wrote, “These leaders understand the benefits offshore wind can deliver to their states in terms of affordability, jobs and economic development, and to help meet clean energy goals.”