The US government has unveiled a plan to install wind farms at sea to provide power to more than 10 million homes by 2030 and thus contribute to efforts against climate change. The plan aims to produce 30 GW of wind power in the country by 2021, according to an official statement. The goal will require investments estimated at more than $12 billion a year along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and have the potential to create thousands of jobs, Joe Biden’s administration announced. The plan will eliminate the emission of 78 million tons of carbon dioxide, according to the White House. The government is considering choosing areas along the coasts of New York and New Jersey.
The current administration has been actively looking to promote offshore energy. Recently, the US Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory issued a report titled, “Marine Energy in the United States: An Overview of Opportunities”, that identifies the potential of marine energy resources (wave, tidal, ocean current, ocean thermal, and riverine marine). Using the national and state level data, the report finds the total marine energy technical resource in the 50 states to be 2,300 TWh per year or the equivalent to roughly 57 per cent of electricity generated in the US in 2019 – enough to power 220 million homes in the county.
